Alpha & Omega: Eclipse Among The Stars
by Nexarc
Summary: Across time and space, the fate of two galaxies will lie in a single starship and her crew. Original Characters. Semi-AU-Alternate Timeline. Multiple X-over cameos. Rating subject to change. *ON HIATUS*
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek, Star Wars or any other franchise that may be encountered in this story. Those belong to their respective companies and authors. I do, however, own the OC's.

This story takes place several months after the end of the primary canon of both franchises. This means a few months after the Battle of Endor in Return of the Jedi and the Hobus Supernova of Star Trek '09

**Chapter 1**

"Let's go to the beach!" exclaimed a hyperactive young male, bouncing around the room.

"I can't wait 'till we get back to Earth! It's so boring onboard and I'm tired of just fooling around in the holodeck all day!"

"Shut up! I am trying to get some work done!"

Doctor Horace J. Smith massaged his aching temple as he tried to ignore his blond companion. They have been in space for several months already for a shakedown cruise and spent the last few weeks patrolling what was left of the Romulan Neutral Zone. All the while he was getting tired of a certain science officer's antics. He was looking forward to some relaxation next week when the mission was scheduled to be over.

"If you're that bored why don't you go stare at comets in astrometrics or look for rogue warbirds?"

A raspberry was his only response. Commander Doran was acting incredibly immature for someone who was second in command of a starship as well as chief science officer. His physical appearance didn't help the situation either. Despite his age, Doran looked and acted like an average teenage man from his silver-gray eyes to his never ending hair style changes, which is currently in its usual short, golden color.

"I would but I decided that hanging out with you is much more entertaining."

The doctor sighed, about to resume his task when he glanced up to see Doran hovering near some of the medical samples.

"DON'T TOUCH THAT!"

* * *

><p>Captain Aka'ula Kagami turned his head at the sound of a chirping combadge. Nicknamed Red by his colleagues, it was his first assignment as a Starfleet Captain and already he was getting a bit stressed by the responsibilities. Moving away from the mirror he was looking in he strolled over to the desk to see who was calling so early in the morning.<p>

"Captain…."

Aka'ula smirked, knowing that Doran was probably stirring up trouble again and annoying the hell out of Horace.

"…sickbay here. I suggest that you come down here and help me with a certain teenage idiot."

"Alright, I am on my way. Kagami out."

Ending the call, Red took a quick glance back at the mirror. His dark hair was a bit unruly but acceptable for the moment so he left his quarters after a quick uniform check. Along the way he kept getting held back by crew members attempting to shove reports into his arms. He ignored them and he moved at a more brisk pace, stopping only once to tell off two ensigns loitering in the corridor.

When the sickbay doors opened at his arrival, he stifled a laugh, glad he didn't walk inside. For some reason the artificial gravity was down so the doctor was floating upside down near his desk, arms and legs crossed Indian-style and a glare on his face.

"Took you long enough."

Red turned and found the culprit floating near an examination table with a glass of questionable liquid in hand, giggling madly.

"Hey Cap! Did you ever try this stuff? Found it in the doctor's personal stash earlier. It's….it's…um…..it's green!"

The teen giggled even more, a blush starting to form from the whiskey. Red merely smiled, glancing over at the doctor, who was now trying to get himself toward the deck, grumbling to himself.

"Why did they ever give that idiot his rank? He spends more of his time drinking and annoying the hell out of me than actually doing anything else…."

"Quit exaggerating Horace, you know as well as I do he is competent when he is on duty."

"Too bad he isn't on duty when I am around…..Red! Turn on the damn gravity already!"

Commanding the computer to restore gravity, Red laughed as his blond first officer fell onto the table with a thud. Doran pouted, looking even more immature than usual.

"Awww. Captain! Why did you have to ruin the fun?"

"Why don't we let Horace do his work? Alpha shift is about to begin and I need you to sober up and get to business. Starfleet really wants us to perform a few more long range scans before we return next week."

The captain then grabbed the officer by the wrist, dragging the teen in the direction of the bridge. Doran merely shrugged, looking back toward the doctor with a grin on his face.

"Jaa nee Hora-sama!"

The doctor shuddered at the nickname, watching the doors shut behind the two.

"Why did she ever teach him that language?"

* * *

><p><em>Captain's Log: Stardate 64560.11<em>

_Long range sensors have detected a strange anomaly a few light years from the former Romulan Neutral Zone. As the closest ship, Starfleet Command has ordered us to investigate the phenomenon to determine possible causes. The only thing we can determine at the moment is that it is of neither Romulan nor Klingon origin._

Red sat watching the bridge crew perform scans of the anomaly in front of them before looking at the image on the viewscreen. Although he wouldn't admit it, the anomaly seemed almost beautiful. A massive whirlpool of dust and particulates were slowly spinning in the void of space, a faint light emanating from the center. Turning his gaze from the screen, he then looked over to where the commander and a lieutenant were reviewing some data readouts.

"Commander, report."

The commander did not respond, looking down at the PADD in confusion.

"Commander?"

Doran jumped a little, giving the captain an apologetic look.

"It seems to be a new, stabilizing wormhole. Graviton and neutrino levels are higher than expected. We haven't yet determined where it leads but we are about to send a probe."

'A stable wormhole?' thought Red, looking back toward the viewscreen. A stable wormhole would result in a large interest in the area, just like what happened with Bajor and Deep Space 9. Hopefully this time they won't find themselves with another Dominion.

"Understood. Send a quick briefing on what you have learned so far to Starfleet and then launch the probe."

"Aye Sir."

A few minutes later as final preparations for the probe where being completed, a small alarm brought everyone's attention back towards the wormhole. At the center of the swirling cloud, green flashes appeared at random moments before fading away. Red's expression tightened slightly, concern gripping the edge of his mind.

"What is going on? Someone, report!"

"Plasma discharges detected. Data readouts indicate that that the energy is too uniform and direct, so we can rule out natural phenomenon."

Red glanced up at the viewscreen. 'Could the plasma be some form of communication or a weapon? Is there a group trying to make contact or is there a battle waging on the other side of the wormhole?' Even if it wasn't the latter, as Captain it was his duty to protect his ship and crew.

"Go to yellow alert. Raise shields and place weapons on standby. Mr. Doran, launch the probe, I want to know what is going on."

"Aye Sir"

Seconds barely passed when the situation changed.

"Captain! Two contacts detected! A small shuttle is exiting the wormhole followed by….Sir! The second vessel is over one and a half kilometers long!"

* * *

><p><span>Author's Notes<span>: This is my first attempt at a fanfic. Please read and review. Constructive criticism is welcome.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Deep in the unknown regions a lone Imperial Star Destroyer was on patrol. On the bridge, an admiral was pacing in frustration. Amber eyes angrily scanned the room, looking for a poor crewman who would have the displeasure of facing his wrath.

"We need to create a battle plan….something that we can use to regain our pride."

"Would you calm down and relax?"

Admiral Kalaghata turned around, glaring at the man behind him. Sitting in a chair, the commander of the vessel, Captain Ratula, was fiddling with something in his pocket.

"Relax? How can I relax! The empire has been dealt a heavy blow by Vader's demise and the alliance is gaining power with each passing day! How dare the others make me stay in the middle of nowhere on this damned bucket of bolts when I can be on the front lines! Do they not care about the Empire? And quit playing with that stupid coin, it is against policy to carry it!"

Ratula looked up, not even flinching at the glare Kalaghata was sending him. This scene was a daily occurrence after the defeat at Endor. After that battle, the Empire fractured into smaller groups, with theirs being one of the smallest. Because of their small numbers, the other admirals in the group had ordered Kalaghata and the ISD Kairos to patrol the unknown regions and find something to give them an advantage despite the Admiral's protests.

"They say that too much stress can kill a man…" Ratula responded, his expression calm despite his partner's death glare. "…keep complaining and we might see if that would come true. And besides, why are you complaining about my coin when you're standing there with a necklace?"

The admiral clutched the pendant he was wearing, his eyes narowing slightly.

"Fine, but if you keep acting like a stoic nobleman your death will come faster than mine. Now get off your ass and help me think."

"You? Thinking? How absurd!"

"I guess I actually will kill you…"

Kalaghata turned, deciding then to ignore the captain until otherwise needed. Who did Ratula think he was to question a superior officer? Uttering a low growl, he shifted his attention towards the transparent steel windows.

Staring at no particular point, his eyes widened slightly in surprise before a smirk took its place.

"It seems to me that we have a little guest from the Alliance. Why don't we give them a proper welcoming?"

* * *

><p>Eri did not have any luck going for her these past few months. First it took her forever to get a shuttle of her own, moving from job to job to pay for one. Second, the previous owner did not tell her that half the systems were broken, leading to random destinations or breakdowns at every other hyper-jump. The third and most annoying thing, of all the places in the galaxy to exit hyperspace, she is deposited right in front of an ISD in the middle of nowhere before the drives overheated and died.<p>

"Well, there goes my 20 year record of not being caught by the Empire."

Eri was one of the few younglings who escaped the great Jedi purge. Her master and family had died soon after so she had been all alone ever since. Glancing up, she decided to humor them by answering their hail. Just as with the rest of the craft, the hologram emitters were in disrepair, resulting in only a garbled message.

"Attention…..shuttle. This is Admiral…aboard the Imperial….Destroyer Kairos. State your intentions immediately….commence firing. You…five minutes to respond."

Brushing a few strands of red hair out of the way, Eri snorted at the message. "Just like the Empire to tell their prey to surrender or die. They didn't even bother asking why I am here." Knowing that her shuttle was no match for the gigantic warship, she hailed back to buy time while trying to restart the engine.

"This Eri piloting shuttle A-113, I mean you no harm. My navigation computer has malfunctioned and I have arrived here by accident. I will be on my way shortly after my engines have properly restarted."

The response was not so welcoming. "This is area…Imperial rule. You have 5 minutes… as an invader and subject to insp…... Prepare to be boarded."

Eri rubbed her temples at the information. 'Since when had this region of space been Empire territory?' Fortunately for her, the engines roared back to life a few moments later.

"Well, I don't need to be here anymore! See ya!"

With that, Eri turned her shuttle away from the ISD.

* * *

><p>Kalaghata stared out at the shuttle attempting to flee away, amused by the cowardice of the pilot. "We've got our answer. Commence firing immediately."<p>

Green bolts flashed across the void attempting to score a hit on the tiny spacecraft. Most flew too far off, but a few came within meters of striking the evading shuttle.

"It seems she has a bit more skill then we guessed. Continue firing."

The game of cat and mouse continued, the gigantic destroyer firing at the helpless shuttle, occasionally striking a lucky shot on the hull.

* * *

><p>Eri was sweating, half the systems fried and the shuttle damaged beyond her control.<p>

"Damned empire, did you know how long it took me to get even a quarter of these circuits running? One more hit and I'm dead."

Just when it seemed that there was nothing she could do, both she and the shuttle disappeared in a flash of light.

* * *

><p>"A wormhole? Follow her in!" yelled the admiral, watching as the shuttle flew straight into a wormhole.<p>

"But sir! We don't know if that wormhole is stable let alone where it leads! We weren't even aware it was there until the pilot flew in!"

"I don't care! If that girl somehow finds a way back to the alliance, we can lose our territory in this area!"

"But.."

The admiral rounded on the helpless navigator, "THAT WAS AN ORDER!"

"..ah..aye sir!"

With that, the ISD flew into the wormhole in pursuit.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own the Star Trek or Star Wars franchises. All elements are the property of their respective owners. I only own the orginal characters.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3<strong>

Kalaghata stared out at the strange vessel hovering out in the distance. A triangular shaped upper hull with two glowing engines jutting out of the lower half, it was so small it could barely reach a quarter of the ISD's length. Ratula came up from behind, also gazing at the craft.

"I have never seen a ship of that configuration before. In fact, I don't recognize the local star patterns. Have you?"

Kalaghata gave a brief glance at the man next to him with a strange look of distant recollection before he suddenly shouted, nearby crewmen jumping in surprise as he began giving orders.

"Scan that vessel and the area around us! I want to know where we are and who that ship belongs to!"

"Admiral, I can't really get a clear reading."

Kalaghata glared down at the insolent man.

"Are you saying you can't get a clear reading from that ship?"

"Sir, I can barely get a reading from the space around us! From what I can tell, the entire subspace layer here is ridiculously unstable. Most scans can hardly get through the resulting interference. It is the near equivalent of our standard jamming equipment. I doubt that anyone can get a signal past 20 or 30 light years without some heavy modification."

Kalaghata's glare intensified.

"Can we still make a hyper-jump?"

"It is possible, but I don't recommend it until we make further detailed scans."

The admiral swore under his breath, turning around to notice the shuttle attempting to get closer to the alien craft.

* * *

><p>Eri gazed in amazement at the strange craft from the other side of the wormhole. With the amount of windows it had she almost thought it was some sort of private yacht. Knowing that the unknown ship could be her only way to contact the alliance, she began to worm her way towards it, attempting to hail it as she went.<p>

* * *

><p>"Stop that shuttle! Who knows what will happen if the pilot makes contact with the Federation!"<p>

Ratula turned at the Admiral's order.

"Federation? What federation are you talking about? That ship doesn't look like any Trade Federation ship I had ever seen."

Kalaghata was steaming behind him. Not taking his eyes off the unknown ship for a moment he tried to get himself under control.

"Not the Trade Federation, it is an entity that calls itself the United Federation of Planets. But how can a Starfleet ship be here? Unless…"

"What about the shuttle?"

"Ignore it. We have bigger problems here…."

Ratula stood still confused as the Admiral rushed past him and jumped into the crew pit below, knocking a crewmember away from a console as he began rapidly typing commands, muttering so low that it that Ratula had to strain his ears to hear him.

"Where are we? Where are we? What are they doing here? Damned Kirk and his cronies!"

Ratula still got even more confused yet interested at the same time.

'Kirk? Who is this Kirk and what does he have to do with this situation and the Admiral's attitude? Was he part of this United Federation of Planets?'

Ratula was shaken from his thoughts as a crewmember spoke from the other side of the bridge.

"Admiral! Captain! The unknown vessel is attempting to hail us on a strange subspace frequency. It contains a holographic signal but it is not in a standard Holonet format or even a compatable one. For now I can only receive audio."

Kalaghata ignored it and continued his frantic typing. Ratula shook his head then went over by the communications station.

"Play it"

An unknown language piped through the speakers. Ratula looked around, seeing if anyone could recognize the language. His eyes settled on the admiral. Kalaghata might have understood the message, but he made no hint that he did as he continued whatever he was attempting on the console.

"I can't seem to make it out. I don't recognize the language at all. Get a protocol droid here. We need to figure out what they want."

"NEVER MIND THAT!"

Ratula turned to look at the admiral, who seemed to have given up on his binge through the navigation-computer.

"Launch all fighters, I want that ship destroyed!"

"What? Why are you ordering us to attack an unknown party? We haven't had a chance to assess their capabilities yet or their intentions!"

Ratula looked back toward the strange ship, before noticing the shuttle disappeared in a shimmer of light.

"You now see their abilities? The Federation may be weak, but they are capable of a few things you can't even dream of. Fortunately I know a few things about their fighting abilities as well. Even their top of the line flagships can't damage a fully fledged ISD! As for their intentions, I doubt that they will ever be in our favor. Now do as I say. Remember that I am your superior officer."

The captain grimaced, not liking the current situation.

"I do not approve of this, but do as the admiral says."

* * *

><p>"Both ships are not responding to our hails."<p>

Red sat with his eyes glued to the viewscreen. The gigantic vessel before them lazily drifted in place. He could immediately tell that it was a ship built for intimidation. A triangular hull with a tower placed on the aft end, it looked like a white dagger floating in the void.

"That shuttle looks pretty damaged. That may be the reason why it can't respond. Do the security scans yourself Mr. Doran, until Mr. Ambrosio can rejoin us. Nothing that can be mistaken as hostile action. I don't like the look of that larger ship."

"Aye sir, one moment please."

Doran walked over to the security station, relieving the crewman before beginning his scans.

"The shuttle is heavily damaged sir. There are multiple fractures and scorching along the hull. I don't know if its structural integrity will hold for long. There seems to be only a single occupant."

Red glanced toward the small craft attempting to get closer.

"Lower shields momentarily and beam the shuttle aboard. Call Ambrosio and send a team to shuttle bay 2 to render assistance and possible medical aid. Set your phasers on stun only. I don't want to completely shock and frighten our guest. As soon as the pilot's aboard, continue hailing the other ship but make discrete scans. I don't want to antagonize them."

"Aye sir."

* * *

><p>Eri screamed as a strange sensation overcame her. Everything shimmered in a strange haze as a slight tingling ripped through her entire body. It lasted for only few seconds, disappearing as quickly as it came.<p>

"What the heck happened?"

The redhead blinked as she took in her surroundings. The shuttle was sitting in the middle of what appeared to be a hanger. Small shuttles lined the wall opposite her, all with similar markings as the alien ship.

Opening the hatch, she stepped outside to find a group of people in strange uniforms inspecting her ship. A few were of species she couldn't recognize, yet most seemed to be human. Reaching out with the Force, she subtly felt out for their thoughts and emotions. Almost all of them seemed curious about the shuttle, some registering slight shock and confusion from her emergence. She quickly snapped out of her thoughts as two men, one in yellow with a gun and another with a blue uniform with a strange device in his hand stepped forward. Cursing herself for leaving her lightsaber back in the shuttle, she placed her hands up and backed away slowly as the men began talking in a strange tongue.

"Excuse me? What are you saying! What is that thing you're holding?"

Confusion appeared on their faces as she spoke. Apparently they couldn't understand her either. One of the men motioned to one of his colleagues, who stepped forward with a cylindrical device. For a moment she feared it was a weapon, but the assuring look on the brunet's face calmed her nerves slightly.

The man motioned for her to talk into the device. Feeling silly, she held the little device and repeated her questions. Nothing happened and none of the aliens seemed fazed, some of them actually going back to inspect her shuttle. Growing frustrated by a lack of response, she began to rant on and on, asking why she was there and what they wanted. She continued screaming into the little device for a few minutes until the man with the yellow shoulders suddenly reached out and put his hand on her shoulder. She gasped in shock at the sudden contact and then again as the man began speaking in Basic.

"That was fine thank you. As much as I would like to know how will accomplish that last insult I am afraid we need to ask a few questions."

"Now can you speak Basic?"

The man in blue raised an eyebrow.

"Basic? Interesting name. Normally it takes a few seconds for the universal translator to process a language but yours was quite difficult for it. It didn't follow the lingua-code that most races in the galaxy follow. Forgive us, but we had to get a few phrases in before we could get a lock. Let me introduce myself. I am Doctor Horace Smith of the United Federation of Planets. Welcome aboard the _USS Arcana_. This is the Chief of Security, Fintan Ambrosio" he said while gesturing to his partner.

Processing the information for a moment, Eri noticed something odd.

"The United Federation of Planets? Never heard of it. And did you say most races in the Galaxy? Most of us speak Galactic Basic. You're the ones who speak something different."

Ambrosio pondered her slightly, looking at her like she was mad.

"You are the first person that we have encountered using your form of lingual code. Either you have a few memory problems or you haven't really been that far from home…."

Insulted by the implication, Eri was about to quip back when all of a sudden red lights began flashing along the bulkheads and an alarm began blaring. Eri turned to the doctor who tapped a small badge on his uniform.

"Doctor Smith to bridge, what is going on?"

"The large vessel has launched what appears to be a squadron of fighter craft and they are now all on an intercept course."

Eri swore loudly, making the doctor look at her in worry.

"I forgot about the imperials! We need to get out of here! How fast is this yacht?"

"Yacht? This isn't a pleasure craft. It is a long-range exploration vessel!"

"Even worse! Tell your military to get here as soon as possible!"

"Military? The Federation's main defensive arm is Starfleet, of which this ship is a part of. We are more than capable of defending ourselves if the need arises."

"But you just said this was an exploration vessel!"

"I don't have time for this! I need to get to sickbay. Lieutenant! Escort Ms…"

"Eri!"

"Ms Eri to the bridge. She might be needed up there."

With that statement, the doctor left, leaving an annoyed lieutenant and a stressed Jedi. Running back into her shuttle to grab her saber, Eri followed the yellow-shirted crewman to a turbolift.

"Have you ever heard of the Republic, or the Empire? Tell me that you have at least heard of the Force!"

The lieutenant glanced at her as they boarded the lift.

"You will have to be a bit more specific on those names. The Federation has encountered multiple republics and empires since its formation. In fact, just a few months ago three of the other major powers in the quadrant referred to themselves as empires. I am not sure if the Romulans can still call themselves as an empire anymore. But the 'Force'? What is that? Another society from your native region? Anyway here's our stop."

Eri couldn't help but feel that he was lying somehow, yet the way the doctor reacted she decided there may be something else. Ignoring her thoughts, she followed him onto the bridge.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek or Star Wars. I only own the original characters.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 4<strong>

Eri looked around the bridge. People sat pouring on consoles lined across the bulkheads. Up forward was a long control console where a crewman was watching what seemed to be a large window showing the approaching Imperials. The lighting was dimmed compared to the corridors and the same red lights remained flashing.

"Lieutenant Ambrosio, report to your station."

Eri turned to look at the man who sat up from one of the chairs near the center of the bridge. The man wore the same uniform as the others, with the exception of having red highlights and four yellow bands on the shoulder. His grey eyes looked at her in what seemed to be mild interest.

"Yes Captain. Here is our new guest. Ms. Eri."

Red turned to the newcomer, the girl was wearing simple yet somewhat dirty clothing, her deep red hair not as startling as her emerald green eyes, which were staring straight at him, observing his next moves.

"Good evening Ms Eri. Sorry that we had to meet in such circumstances. I am Aka'ula Kagami, captain of the starship _Arcana_. Before we get carried away with formalities, could you please contact your friends and tell them we come in peace? They haven't been responding to our hails."

Eri studied the man before her; he seemed too calm despite the situation. However, something felt off about him that she couldn't quite place. In fact, something felt off about nearly everything here. She could find out later, there were more important things at hand.

"The Imperials are NOT my friends. There is a war going on in which our people are rebelling against the Galactic Empire and recently we succeeded in fracturing it beyond repair. They are trying to regain power and will do anything to do so."

Red looked at her, yet it she still seemed trustworthy enough.

"So this Galactic Empire is willing to bring us into their conflict just to reseat themselves? I'm sorry but we can't get involved with this battle. The Federation has this Prime Directive that forbids us from actively participating what is obviously a civil war. However, we may settle this diplomatically."

The Captain turned and retook his seat. Eri stood in shock. They did not understand the situation at all. Most people would have been worried out going up against the Empire in any form yet here was a group wanting to discuss things peacefully?

"Continue our hails Mr. Ambrosio. Tell them we are not a threat and wish to discuss things peacefully."

"Captain!"

Red turned to look at the girl, who just shoved Doran out of the way and took his seat.

"You don't seem to understand! The Empire wouldn't just put down their guns and just talk things over tea! They are desperate for power and may use you and your resources in doing so!"

Eri stared into the eyes of the captain. Despite the threat looming over them, he still remained so calm that it looked more like they were going to a picnic instead of into a battle.

"Ms Eri, has the rebellion ever tried negotiations?"

"Yes they have. And it almost always ended badly. The Empire merely feigned peace to weed others out and crush them. You can't negotiate with them!"

"Hopefully we will be able to accomplish something. Commander, have you finished your scans?"

Doran, who was rubbing his arm where Eri forcibly pushed him, nodded.

"The Imperial ship is armed with multiple light and heavy weaponry embankments. Most seem to be high powered plasma guns, while several seem to be ionized particle cannons. The design of the craft is used to focus most if not all of the firepower forward. I have yet to determine FTL capabilities yet the ship is propelled by large ion engines at sub-light speeds. The fighters are mostly single occupancy units also propelled by ion drives. Their armament consists of smaller plasma guns and what appear to be small fission-based warheads. I have already fed the specifics to the tactical console."

Eri looked at them in shock.

"You can tell all of that from here? What about their jamming signals?"

Doran turned to her.

"They were jamming us? I thought it was ambient interference from the wormhole. My scans were somewhat scrambled, but not so much that I couldn't get a signal through."

Eri pinched herself to ensure she wasn't asleep. How can these people not know of the Force or the Empire but can scan the basic structure of an Imperial warship despite jamming? Shaking her head, she pulled herself out of her thoughts as a crewmember suddenly shouted out.

"Captain! The Imperial ship is now attempting to respond! Their visual communications formatting is difficult, but I can get the audio through."

"Open the channel."

"This is Admiral Kalaghata of the Imperial Star Destroyer _Kairos_. This area is now under the direct control of the Galactic Empire. Surrender now or be destroyed. I await your reply"

Ambrosio, who was getting himself settled at his console, looked up from his readout.

"Captain, the fighters have taken up positions around the ship. Shields now online and weapons ready at your command."

"Understood. Reopen the channel. Attention Imperial vessel, I am Captain Aka'ula Kagami of the _USS Arcana_ representing the United Federation of Planets. Admiral, I have no understanding of why you wish to control this area, but it is already under our jurisdiction and as such we do not recognize your claim. However, we may send diplomatic parties and arrange a compromise. Please withdraw your fighters so we can settle this peacefully."

* * *

><p>Kalaghata laughed, taking a quick look at his fighters surrounding the puny Starfleet ship.<p>

"Don't feign ignorance Captain, the Federation should have remembered my last encounter, though I represented a different party back then. I have learned from my mistakes and found a new ally. This warship so powerful that not even your entire arsenal of Constitution class starships can put a scratch on it. The Galactic Empire fielded hundreds of these vessels and several classes even larger and more powerful. Even though the main fleet is scattered, the Federation has no chance against our might. I suggest you call the man known as Captain Kirk and tell him that I come for pay back. Don't even try for diplomacy, I will take what is mine and there will be no stopping me."

Ending his threat, Kalaghata closed the channel. Ratula came up, confusion on his face.

"Admiral? What are you talking about? Why are you ignoring their suggestions to negotiate? Who is this Captain Kirk? What is it about this place that you are willing to risk our lives for? I agreed with you earlier just as a precaution, but these people seem uninterested in fighting! I may not know what they did to that Alliance shuttle, but until I get answers, I will pull back my men."

The captain walked pass him, intending to use the communications channel when the Admiral laid a tight grip on his shoulder. Turning around, he raised his eyebrow at the man seething in repressed rage.

"Captain…" he said in an icy tone "…it is wise to heed my orders. The Federation has done me injustice in the past and I seek to correct this little problem. Before I joined the Empire, I once came across this place, yet a man by the name of James T. Kirk and his starship crew prevented me from realizing my goal of creating a new home for myself. Fortunately the Galactic Empire saw me for the man I am and took me in instead. Now I am back with a powerful ship and will not let this opportunity for revenge to slip away. If you do not agree with me, then you can spend the rest of this mission in the brig. GUARDS! Take this fool to a detention cell for questioning his orders!"

The captain glared at the insane man before him, struggling against the soldiers dragging him off the bridge.

"Revenge again? Will you ever learn? You are sacrificing the lives of our men just to satisfy your lust for payback? You sicken me!"

Kalaghata's only response was a cold laugh, smiling as the bulkhead closed behind the swearing captain.

"Like as if I care what anyone thinks of me anymore."

* * *

><p>"Try hailing them again!"<p>

Kalaghata tried to keep calm, stressing out will not be good for anyone. The Federation had met this Kalaghata figure before? The famous Captain Kirk had met him before as well? Yet there were a few problems with the Admiral's statement. Didn't he know that Captain Kirk was dead? Why did he still think the old Constitutions were still in service? Just how did he meet the Empire if the wormhole didn't even exist until a few hours ago? Rubbing his temples, Kalaghata turned to his first officer.

"Mr. Doran, take a quick look at the database, see if you can find anything on Admiral Kalaghata."

"Aye sir."

"Erm, Captain?"

Eri spoke up, still seated in Doran's chair.

"What are you going to do? I spent half my life trying to avoid the Empire, but now that my shuttle is useless, I have no choice but to ask for your help. I do not intend on dying anytime soon."

Red took a look at her. She looked about ten years younger than him, yet he could tell from the look in her eyes that she had been through a lot.

"While I am bound by the prime directive from interfering in your civil war, I can offer you political asylum for a while…"

"Sir!"

Red spun around, training his eyes on Ambrosio who was looking down at his console.

"The _Kairos_ has begun to accelerate and is powering up its weapons. The fighters are also charging their weapons."

"All hands to battle stations. Sorry Ms Eri, but I will require your knowledge on their capabilities. Mr. Doran, belay my last order, I need you at your station to keep an eye out for other ships."

"Aye Sir'

"Yes, Captain."


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Note: Sorry for the delay in getting this up. Not only did I have to rewrite half of it when I realized that it didn't comply with the plots I had planned out, I also had to deal with mid-terms. It sucks to be a college student. Please read and review.

Dislaimer: I do not own the franchises that appear in this story nor do I claim so. The only things I own are the original characters, the _USS Arcana_ and the _ISD Kairos._

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><p><strong>Chapter 5:<strong>

The _Arcana_ heeled over to avoid a few turbo-laser bolts from the star destroyer, lashing out phasers and scoring a few hits on the TIE fighters. The others circled around, spraying the ship with lasers as they weaved around the Starfleet ship.

"Shields holding at 98 percent. The fighters are now attempting to make another pass sir."

Red nodded to his security officer. "Continue evasive maneuvers and return fire. Ignore the fighters and concentrate on the destroyer. If we can, target only the weapons, keep the casualties to a minimum."

The bridge rocked slightly as a turbo-laser bolt found its mark, the shields flaring from the impact. In return, a few phaser bolts ripped across the _Kairos_, the hull buckled and scorched in their wake.

-AO-

"Sir! Multiple damage reports are coming in from numerous areas. We have lost a few of the smaller guns and the fighters are barely making a dent in their shields. Those weapons of theirs are just passing through our ray shields like they weren't event there!"

"Then turn on the particle shield as well! While you're at it, try shifting the phase frequency!"

"But Admiral! We can't operate the two shields at the same time! We also can't shift frequencies while in operation as well! We would have to lower them to do so. Maybe we should call back the fighters and retre…"

The man couldn't finish that last word, falling to the ground dead with a hole in his chest. Kalaghata re-pocketed his blaster with a sneer on his face. He was losing his patience. What should have been a quick obliteration was now turning into a battle of over half an hour. He poured over his memories of the Enterprise's schematics and Starfleet's data files. The ship he was in combat with was much faster and powerful than anything that the Federation could have achieved, yet there it was bearing Starfleet markings.

"You!" He screamed, pointing at the crewman who was sitting next to the corpse of the dead officer. "Consider yourself as his new replacement. Tell the gunnery crews to keep firing…..WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE ALL DOING? WHY IS THAT MAN HERE? "

-AO-

"Shields now at 63 percent."

Ducking to avoid a shower of sparks from an exploding panel, Eri swore loudly.

"You call this defending yourselves? Granted, I am impressed that a ship of this size is lasting this long, but you need reinforcements!"

A calm Aka'ula merely glanced up at her.

"Reinforcements are on their way, in fact, I believe that that is another ship right now."

Following his pointing finger, Eri turned to see a ship burst into view in a flash of light. The newcomer she noticed was of a different build than the one she was on, yet the markings were still similar. It began firing what looked to her like blobs of light at the _Kairos_, surprised as they exploded against the hull instead of impacting the shields. Shaking his head, Red turned back to the security station.

"She always was way too aggressive for her own good. Mr. Ambrosio, signal the _Thunder Child_ to draw away the fighters but warn them we are keeping casualties to a minimum. Continue disabling the mother ship's weapons."

"I don't believe that we need to do that captain."

Everyone turned to Ambrosio, who in turn glared at all of them back.

"The ISD has ceased firing and the fighters are retreating."

-AO-

A hysteric Kalaghata was flailing in the grip of two armed guards, screaming for release while also swearing at the equally mad Ratula.

"Traitors! How dare you all go up against an officer of the Empire! This is high treason! You should all be executed! Listen to your orders and release me at once!"

"No, you listen to me." Ratula growled out, bending down to look the admiral in the eyes. "You have put this ship and her crew in danger just for settling revenge. Lucky that the crew thinks the same way as I do and decided to come and get me after all the damage you have caused and the lives lost."

Ratula stood back up and surveyed the damage. Hull breaches and small plasma fires littered the hull of the destroyer, while in numerous areas the armor was blackened from near misses. From what the guards said when they barged into the cell, half the fighters were heavily damaged or destroyed within the first few minutes of battle.

"It seems that you have underestimated the enemy's strength and as a result will cost us a long while in a repair dock. Now what will the other admirals say hmm? I doubt that you will be forgiven. Guards, bring him to the brig."

The admiral of course resisted as much as he could, his screams and swears echoing after him as he was dragged away. Fixing his uniform, Ratula turned to the communications officer.

"As soon as the rest of the fighters have docked, signal the Federation ships so we can explain our situation."

-AO-

"Sir, the team from the _Thunder Child_ will come aboard shortly."

"Understood, energize as soon as they are ready."

Kagami, Eri and Ambrosio were standing in the transporter room ready to greet the away team from the _Thunder Child_ as the _Arcana_ was chosen to host the cease fire negotiations with Captain Ratula. While Red and Ambrosio waited patiently, Eri was questioning the sanity of everyone present.

"…and why are you all just inviting them over? For all we know it could be a trap! Did I mention that the Empire is not to be trusted? I am pretty sure I did!"

Ambrosio growled, flicking his eyes toward the redhead.

"Yes, at least twelve times so far in the past five minutes! Can't you talk about anything else?"

Eri huffed, crossing her arm and then taking a look around the room.

"Okay then mister grumpy-face, what are we doing in this room? If we are going to meet your friends, shouldn't we be in the shuttle bay?"

Instead of words, Ambrosio rolled his eyes in annoyance and pointed to the pad taking up a large portion of the floor and bulkhead. Still confused, Eri had to pinch herself from screaming in shock. A high-pitched whine and several curtains of shimmering lights appeared for a few seconds before being replaced by a woman and several other crewman, all wearing what Eri now knew as the standard Starfleet uniforms.

Almost everyone else seemed unfazed by the situation, as if it was normal for people to just appear from nowhere. The woman, after taking a quick glance at Eri, nodded to Ambrosio before breaking into a smile at Kagami.

"Ah Red, getting into trouble again I see. Lucky that we were in the area when we heard you got caught in a battle. Oh the job of a big sister never ends."

Red chuckled lightly before allowing himself to get hugged.

"Haumea, it is nice to see you again. But we should go down to the shuttle bay; the representatives from the Empire will be coming by shuttle."

He let out his hand in a gesture to allow her to go first. Haumea walked briskly out the door first, everyone following in her wake.

"Wha….what just happened?" whispered Eri to Ambrosio, amusement on his face as he noticed her shock.

"That was a transporter. It's capable of transporting people or cargo across short distances such as between two ships or to and from orbit without the need for a shuttle. However, seeing as how you are already confused, I think that explaining the mechanics behind it will be a bit too much."

Up ahead, Haumea was still talking with Red.

"Where is Doran-chan, or that idiot of a doctor Smith?"

"Both of them are preparing the conference room, it got pretty messy during the battle. But sister, maybe you should refrain from the Japanese okay? You know how Horace hates it, especially now that you've gotten Doran speaking it."

Haumea laughed loudly, scaring an un-expecting Eri who was still shocked from the transporter.

"Then I shall talk exclusively in Japanese for him. Now who is your friend?" she asked, finally noticing the frightened redhead behind them as they entered the turbo lift.

"M…my name is Eri ma'am." Stammered out Eri, who was now regaining her composure. "I was being attacked by the Imps when I ran into Captain Kagami."

"Imps? Heh heh, funny nickname. Well anyway, welcome to the United Federation of Planets, though I guess you kind of got that speech already." Haumea spoke, waving down Ambrosio as he attempted to point out her casual disregard for protocol. "Call me Captain Haumea, and my brother Captain Aka'ula or Red, it will get very confusing if everyone here referred to us both as Kagami."

Exiting the turbo lift, they all walked down the corridor to the shuttle bay. Eri noticed that they moved her shuttle into an alcove on the side, making a mental note to have it repaired as soon as possible.

"I don't think that will be able to fit."

Confused at the statement, Eri turned to see what everyone was looking at. Just outside of the force field around the shuttle bay entrance, an Imperial shuttle was sitting a short distance off. Its large wings prevented it from entering the tiny shuttle bay.

Haumea took charge, giving out orders despite it being her brother's ship.

"Beam their party over. They can have the shuttle return to the ship as soon as they're aboard."

"Yes ma'am."

A few minutes later, several shocked men were standing in the shuttle bay, Ratula trying to get a bearing of his surroundings while his men fumbled for their weapons.

Aka'ula stepped forward, raising his arms in a gesture of peace.

"Sorry for the surprise, but welcome aboard the _USS Arcana_. If you may please lower your weapons and follow me."

Eri watched as the confused storm troopers lowered their weapons with Ratula's approval. This was going to be a very interesting meeting.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own any franchises that may appear in this story. I only claim the original characters.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 6:<strong>

Ratula didn't know what to say. One moment he was on the shuttle discussing with the crew on how they would get aboard then the next moment a strange haze and tingling sensation overcame them and deposited all of them in a hanger full of similar looking shuttlecraft.

Ignoring the frantic calls of the shuttle pilot asking where they were, he instead made a few observations of the alien crew before him. Despite some minor variations, almost all of the crew was wearing the same uniform of black and a primary color. The only exception being whom he guessed was the female pilot from the Alliance.

Under his observation, he was amused that she attempted to hide something under her jacket. He couldn't have mistaken it. She was one of the few Jedi left, trying to hide her light-saber from a known threat to her people. Her young face, now that he thought about it, looked eerily familiar. Although he can't remember when, he could swear that they have met before.

He put his thoughts aside as two of the Federation officers stepped forward. Both were wearing a red variant of the uniform. Judging by the fact that they both had what looked like the largest amount of rank bars, he assumed that they were in charge. Taking the initiative, he decided to introduce himself first.

"I am Captain Ratula of the Imperial Remnant. I sincerely apologize for admiral Kalaghata's actions earlier. I hope that you haven't had too many losses?"

The man was the first to speak.

"My name is Aka'ula Kagami and this is my sister Haumea. Fortunately our losses were isolated to a few moderate injuries, but if our battle continued further I am afraid that it could have been much worse. I also deeply apologize for the deaths of your own crew. We ourselves uphold all life as sacred and try to keep casualties to a minimum even those of our enemies."

Ratula nodded, impressed by their adherence to their doctrines, unlike a certain admiral.

"I now see why most of your strikes were directed to our weapons instead of vital systems. I applaud you for being so considerate even in the face of the enemy. But before we continue, is there a better place to talk? I don't think a shuttle bay is the best location for negotiations."

Aka'ula turned around, ready to lead the way to the conference room. Ratula signaled to the frantic shuttle pilot that he was fine and to return to the _Kairos_ before following him through the doors.

-AO-

"I said no and that is final!"

"But Hora-sama! I think that Aunty Haumea would appreciate having a comfy pink couch instead of these dull things!" Doran said, pointing out one of the conference chairs.

Both had only spent five minutes cleaning up the conference room for the negotiations, but Horace spent the latter half of ten refusing to allow Doran to do as he pleased, much to the teen's annoyance. As soon as he heard that Haumea was boarding the ship for peace talks, Horace all but chained Doran to the table to prevent him from running off to greet her. Instead, Doran decided to focus on being as irritating as possible.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?" Horace called out, shuddering at the name "Also, please do not refer to that woman with such close familiarity while I am present."

"You are no fun at all. Well, Fintan is even duller but then again it is Fintan, he always was like that." Doran began to ramble, puffing his lips out as if deep in thought. "Okay, how about a nice purple one?"

"NO!"

A moment later, Red walked into the room, an eyebrow raised at the two men indicating he could heard Horace's shout. Beckoning behind him, several others filed into the room. The Imperial captain looked over his shoulder at the bridge with an interested look while Eri sat down quietly fuming.

Out of the corner of his eye, Horace saw Doran give a small wave at Haumea before quickly putting on a stoic mask. 'Typical. Of course he pretends to be serious when others are around' he mentally complained, taking his seat with the others and turning his attention to Aka'ula, who was still standing at the head of the table.

"Let us begin shall we? As we are already aware, the reason for this meeting is to negotiate a ceasefire between our respective parties. Captain Ratula shall speak for the Imperial Remnant (the man raising his hand in acknowledgement), Miss Eri in the interests of the Alliance (the redhead merely nodded) and Captain Haumea and I shall speak on behalf of the United Federation of Planets."

"Permission to speak?" Eri said, breaking her silence and looking down the table to Aka'ula. Glancing at her, he nodded his head and sat down. Haumea seemed pleased for some reason and leaned forward while Ratula gazed at her in question.

"I may not be a politician, but I do know for a fact that this man…" she spoke, gesturing to Ratula, "…can't reasonably speak for the Empire as a whole. Especially as it has recently splintered into several different factions. How are we to guarantee that others will not ignore what is agreed upon in this room?"

Ratula smiled lightly, 'It seems that this girl can think rationally, even if she seems a bit biased.' Choosing his words he looked at her in the eyes.

"You are quite correct madam. I can't guarantee that other factions will listen to me. However, I can say that most of the admirals of my faction respect me and will uphold the decisions that I make, unlike Admiral Kalaghata, who is safely locked up in the _Kairo's_ brig."

Haumea, who was listening intently, nodded and then voiced her own question.

"If I may ask Mr. Ratula, where exactly is the location of your people? I had taken the liberty of checking the Federation's databases before we came aboard and there is no record of an entity that called itself the Galactic Empire. From what my brother tells me, even your language is completely new to us. It took us a while to get the translators working because of that."

Ratula didn't know what to say. He knew that none of the stars matched known patterns, and he had definitely never come across ships such as the one he is currently on.

"I am not sure of how to answer that." He said honestly. "I myself have no clue where we are right now. The Old Republic charted a vast majority of the galaxy, yet our computers can't figure out heads or tails of our location. Even in relatively uncharted areas such as the Unknown Regions, there is still enough light from known stars to be able to know our relative position. I just do not recognize any of the stars here."

Pausing, another thought came to him.

"In fact, I don't even recall ever hearing about your Federation. One would think that such a reasonably powerful entity would have been recorded or at least heard of by the general public."

Doran finally spoke up himself, deciding to relay his own opinions.

"Despite the fact that we all can't determine the relative locations of our territories to each other, there is the question on how the admiral knew about us."

Surprised, Ratula turned to the side, only noticing the blond after he spoke up.

"Sorry, I don't believe we were introduced."

A light thud was heard and everyone turned to see Aka'ula rubbing the back of his head and Haumea with a raised fist and a disappointed look on her face.

"Let me apologize for my forgetful brother." She explained, a glancing back to her brother before continuing. "The man who just spoke is Commander Doran, his first officer. Next to him is the ship's chief medical officer Doctor Smith. And you have already met the chief of security Fintan Ambrosio." She concluded, waiving her hand toward the still standing officer.

"Please, continue commander."

"As I was saying; captain. You say you don't ever recall records of the Federation, and we have none on your Empire. This creates a paradox if we take into consideration Admiral Kalaghata's earlier statements. I recall that he had already encountered the Federation, specifically a man known as Captain James Tiberius Kirk. That in itself leads to even more questions as Kirk's time was almost a hundred years ago."

Ratula processed the information.

"That would imply the admiral is over a hundred. That can't be right. Humans only live for about 80 years yet he has no sign of aging. So unless he is an alien that looks ridiculously human-like, that is impossible.

Horace stood up slightly. 'A humanoid that possibly was at least a hundred years old yet doesn't look a day over thirty? He couldn't be a t…..no, the others are all gone. Those two made sure of that. He has to be something else…..'

"Doctor?"

Horace jumped slightly.

"Huh? Where is he?"

"Doctor, are you alright?"

Blinking, Horace quickly noticed everyone looking at him in either concern or in Haumea's case, barely concealed amusement. Looking down in embarrisment, he apologized and attempted to look as inconspicuous as possible.

"It is nothing to be concerned about."

Ignoring the disruption, Aka'ula decided to change the subject.

"We could discuss the admiral later. I believe I have figured out the answer to our location problems."

Everyone (minus the still embarrassed medical officer) turned their attention to him.

"This is just a possibility, but given the evidence my crew has gathered, and the testimony everyone here has provided, I believe that we may have encountered a wormhole between two galaxies. Not just that, but a wormhole between two times as well."

Everyone sat in silence at the implication. In the pause, no one took notice of the momentary look of fear on Ambrosio's face.

"What do you mean by that Red?" Haumea asked, a thoughtful look on her face. Doran, quickly understanding what was said, answered for him.

"Just before the battle, we were scanning the wormhole for several minutes. I noticed that the graviton and neutrino emissions were much higher for a wormhole its size. Even the Bajoran Wormhole isn't as powerful as this one. If the wormhole does connect two galaxies and time periods, then it could both justify the higher emission levels, the admiral's claim that he has met Captain Kirk and our inability get relative positions of each other. However, for such an event to happen, that must mean that even though the other end of the wormhole is stable, our end must not be fully fixed to a specific point in time. No one has ever been able to find the wormhole until now because of that."

Ratula nodded in agreement.

"Our end of the wormhole is located in a relatively uncharted area of space. It seems reasonable that not many people would be aware of it on our side."

While everyone else was discussing this, Eri was beginning to get more confused by the second.

"Gravitas? Nutrients? What the heck are you guys talking about? I understand that the wormhole-thing is apparently connecting our homes. But can't you all just speak in plain Basic?"

Everyone looked at her, Haumea exempted again as she was giggling hysterically. Rolling his eyes, Horace, who finally recovered from his embarrisment, decided to explain it to the poor redhead.

"The correct terms are gravitons and neutrinos. They are subatomic particles that are known byproducts of the formation of a wormhole within the subspace domain. You see, for a wormhole to physically connect two physical and temporal coordinates, it must….."

Eri put her hands up in defeat.

"Please, enough of that. My brain hurts. Can we all get back on topic? I thought we were here to discuss peace negotiations."

It was now everyone else's turn to get embarrassed.

"Okay then. Shall we try again?" said a slightly blushing Aka'ula.

* * *

><p>AN: Wow, this was the quickest chapter to write and so far one of my more favorite ones. Finally starting to flesh out the individual quirks of my main characters as you can tell by the 'negotiations'. Next chapter will come out sometime this weekend. Read & Review.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own anything except the original characters.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 7:<strong>

"As we were originally discussing, we are here to negotiate a cease fire agreement between our respective parties. We can discuss the admiral's situation later along with any other question not immediately relevant to the topic."

Looking around the room, Red concluded that everyone was agreeing with the plan. With a slight nod, he continued.

"Captain Ratula, you say that your faction will follow your advice?"

"Yes. However, as I have pointed out earlier, that does not guarantee that others in the Remnant will follow along as well."

"Understood. We hope that your people keep their word. Ms Eri, what about the Alliance?"

Eri sat thinking for a few moments.

"Well, I believe that the Alliance would agree for a cease fire even from such a small group of Imperialists. But we must also understand that there will be mistrust and concern, at least on the Alliance's part, on if the faction is trustworthy."

Understanding where she was coming from, Ratula agreed and spoke up.

"The Alliance has every right to be skeptical. The relations between it and the Empire were….less than ideal. ("That's an understatement." cried out Eri) Yet, you of all people should know that the Jedi were always willing to see the good in everyone and are willing to forgive."

Eri's eyes widened, her hand quickly snapping down to her waist where her lightsaber was hidden.

"H…h...how did you know I was a Jedi?"

Ratula raised an eyebrow before speaking again.

"It was not difficult to feel someone attempting to probe my mind with the Force. Also, you are pretty bad at concealing a lightsaber and an even worse innocent look."

Eri stuttered in shock. She was successful in hiding her Jedi status from the Empire for years, yet here was an Imperialist who figured it out in a ridiculously short time. But then again, most Imperial grunts weren't known for their intelligence.

Aka'ula looked back and forth between Eri's obvious shock to Ratula's calm demeanor.

"I am unsure of what exactly you are talking about, but Ms Eri, weren't you the one who suggested we remain on topic?"

Eri flushed at her hypocrisy. Reminding herself to interrogate Ratula later, she nodded and turned her attention back to Aka'ula when he spoke up again.

"We have agreed that there should be no fighting between our people. The Federation always tries to find a way to settle things peacefully. Violence should only be used as a last resort, never as the first option."

Ratula smiled and nodded.

"I agree whole heartedly captain. I for one never appreciated violence. (He ignored the skeptical look on Eri's face) While certain others may disagree with me, I strongly support your beliefs on diplomacy versus battle."

Haumea looked at Eri, who was now sitting quietly.

"Ms Eri, do you have anything to say?"

Eri shook her head. 'While I am skeptical of how trustworthy the Imperial Remnant is; I can tell that Captain Ratula is telling the truth, or what he believes is'.

"No ma'am. I can't think of anything."

All three captains could tell she was still not convinced that the Imperial faction will uphold its end of the agreement, yet it was justifiable.

"Seeing as everyone here believes that a ceasefire is acceptable," Red continued, "I recommend that we all should report to our respective governments and have them decide on further actions."

"Agreed"

"…..agreed"

Haumea grinned and motioned Doran to follow her.

"Meeting adjourned. Now brother, why don't you and Ambrosio give your friends a tour of your ship while Doran-Chan and I catch up? Elizabeta lent me a few new manga that I think he might be interested in."

"Really?" asked Doran, dropping his calm demeanor quickly at the prospect.

Eri, having not seen Doran off duty, stared at the teen, who was now trembling in excitement.

"What the? Weren't you all just all serious a few moments ago?"

Horace, ignoring the confused redhead and elated blond, was about to leave first when stopped by Haumea.

"And where do you think you're going?" she said, a strange look upon her face.

"To sickbay. I am not really needed here and I still have to get back to my work."

"I think not. We also need some catching up to do and things to discuss,_ if you know what I mean_."

Horace looked at her in the eye, hesitating for a moment before changing his mind and agreeing.

"Red, I am heading off to the _Thunder Child_ with Captain Haumea and Doran. Don't do anything too risky while I am gone."

"I can handle myself!" he replied to their retreating backs before turning to Ratula and Eri, "Would you both like to tour the ship?"

Ratula agreed first.

"I accept. I am quite curious about this ship myself. I have never encountered such a design before and would appreciate the opportunity to learn."

Eri, eying Ratula skeptically, also agreed.

"I would like a tour as well. I don't think we had a full opportunity to do so before the battle. Besides, until my shuttle gets repaired, I am not going anywhere in a hurry."

Red suddenly remembered the damaged craft currently sitting in the shuttle bay.

"Oh, I completely forgot about that, and your men too captain."

Ratula waved him down.

"Do not worry. When I left the shuttle bay I ordered them to not touch anything unless your own crew needed help. If Ms Eri wishes, I can drop her off at Coruscant before I return to my own people."

"Is that acceptable Ms Eri?"

Eri contemplated it before shaking her head.

"I would rather stay here and wait for someone in the alliance to pick me up. But Captain Ratula can send for them on my behalf."

"I will accept that. But Captain Aka'ula, do you have any spare quarters for her during her stay?"

"Yes. The primary purpose of this ship is to explore and host conferences with any people we encounter. We have multiple rooms ready just in case some delegates need to stay aboard."

Ratula raised an eyebrow.

"So this ship is an exploration vessel? I would have thought otherwise seeing as how you survived a prolonged battle with one of the most feared warship classes in our galaxy!"

"I agree with that statement!" Eri spoke, forgetting momentarily who she was agreeing with. "I tried asking the doctor earlier, but he couldn't explain it before we went to battle."

The Starfleet officer looked at the two expectant people, both focused on what he would say.

"Over the years we have encountered multiple races, some benevolent, some not. Even in the earlier era back when the Federation was just a small coalition of planets, there were species who constantly threatened the lives of our crews. After a dreadful war with a group known as the Xindi, it was decided that all Starfleet vessels should be equipped with enough systems to feasibly defend themselves. Trust me, this became more than apparent after we encountered the Borg; a species so devastating and dangerous that a single scout ship wiped out an armada of 40 ships and nearly resulted in the destruction of the Federation itself."

"A single scout ship? They must be a very incredible species." Ratula commented.

"You do not ever want to meet the Borg. It could be the last thing you will ever wish to happen." Red said in a serious undertone, before realizing how long they had been standing in the conference room. "Why don't we get on with the tour?"

"Ah yes, I look forward to it."

"Then please follow me."

* * *

><p>AN: Sorry about the delay (again) and a short chapter. I think that keeping to a schedule will be difficult for a while. I will now update whenever I can, but I do not forsee any breaks longer than about two weeks between chapters. Sorry for any future inconveniences.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own anything except the original characters.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 8:<strong>

"Welcome to the bridge!"

Ratula looked around generally impressed. Although there were still some minor areas being repaired, the rest of the room was near spotless. Consoles were arranged along the bulkhead with some emphasis forward toward a large window. A single raised console sat forward of a short platform with chairs where the commanding officers undoubtedly sat.

It seemed that Starfleet and Imperial architects thought similarly in placing the command in the center of the bridge. However, unlike the deep trench and walkway of a Star Destroyer to emphasize the command officers over the lower ranked, he noticed that the general impression was to give everyone on the bridge equal footing, with the raised center platform merely indicating where the ship's master would sit.

"I say captain, this bridge is quite impressive for an exploratory ship. However, may I ask how you handle external communications? I don't see anything here that looks like an emitter."

Aka'ula looked at him with a slight puzzled look.

"By what do you mean by that?"

Eri spoke up instead, explaining for the Imperial captain.

"He means that in our galaxy, we communicate through what we call the Holonet. It is a galaxy wide network that allows us to communicate through holograms."

Nodding in understanding, he pointed to the window.

"That right there is our viewscreen. While primarily for external viewing, we also use it for holographic communications. It may look like a window", he said to a skeptical Eri "but it is in fact a current hologram of the surrounding space."

Ratula looked further impressed as he walked up and examined the screen more closely.

"Is that so? It does looks like just a glass window right now."

Smirking, Aka'ula walked up to a console and pressed a few buttons. Suddenly the viewscreen switched from a starfield to a large grassy field complete with small lake. The sudden change caused Ratula to jump in surprise. Coming over his slight shock, he peered again, a small smile on his face as he tilted his head from side to side, noticing the realistic depth of the hologram.

"Marvelous. I haven't seen such a convincing hologram in years, and you say that this is also used for communications?"

"Yes and more. Now if you shall follow me, we shall stop by holodeck 2 on the way to engineering."

The trio left the bridge and took a turbolift down to deck 6. Walking up to a door, Red motioned to for them to enter first. Ratula entered gladly, but Eri grabbed Red's arm and caught his attention.

"What are you thinking, giving him a tour of the ship?" She whispered, making sure that Ratula couldn't overhear. "Aren't you afraid of giving away vital information?"

Red calmly shook his head, leaning down slightly to answer her.

"I am only showing you non-classified and quite common technology throughout this area of space. I will not be sharing anything that isn't standard to most space-faring races, at least in our galaxy."

Somewhat satisfied with the answer, the redhead entered the room and immediately wondered why. There was nothing in the grey room other than a single console over which Ratula was examining.

"Now welcome to the most popular room aboard the ship!" exclaimed Red from behind, being slightly overdramatic in Eri's opinion. There was nothing here that seemed even remotely exciting. However, Ratula looked more interested than her as the Starfleet officer walked to the center of the room.

"Computer, activate program Kagami 47!"

Suddenly the entire room shimmered and they found themselves in a garden. Several trees were laden with fruits as small insects fluttered about the flowerbeds below. The trio was on a small flagstone path right next to a large fountain.

"Now _this_ is a hologram!" The imperial officer realized, bent down and was amazed as the water flowed around his fingers. Taking his hand back out, he dried of his hand on his pants. Eri, watching the action, looked back to Red.

"How can he get wet like that? I thought that this was a hologram?"

"The holodeck does project most objects via hologram. However, we use an array of force fields to simulate large surfaces while small scale objects are actually replicated."

"Replicated?"

Walking up to a tree, Red picked two apples and threw it to the guests.

Ratula bit into his immediately, while Eri hesitated with an apprehended look. However, looking at the expression on Ratula's face, she tentatively bit down. The fruit's skin gave way, and Eri was surprised at the realistic taste and texture. Taking a few more bites, she sat down on the edge of the fountain, taking in her surroundings.

"What do you think?"

Eri swallowed and nodded, suddenly remembering that she needed to record a message herself.

"I have to agree. This is very impressive, but can you program a holographic message from here?"

"Yes I can, however I am unsure if we worked a way to get our protocols compatible with each other yet."

Ratula finished his apple and chucked the core into a nearby compost bin. Walking back up to them, he turned his attention to Eri.

"Is you shuttle's communications array still functional? If it is, you could record a message from there and transfer it to the _Kairos_."

Eri thought a bit then shook her head.

"The system was damaged during our battle and I don't have the tools to fix it at the moment."

Ratula, looking slightly guilty, asked his earlier question again.

"Are you sure that you don't want us to drop you off at Coruscant? Or at least an outpost of the Alliance?"

Eri turned away looked down at her reflection in the fountain, a slightly depressed expression gracing her features as she felt a few of the blue tiles.

"Sorry, I still don't feel that I should trust you. The empire killed my master and my parents when I was little, it is something that I still can't let go."

Ratula stood there, unable to find anything to say that he thought would be comforting .Feeling that the topic was getting into dangerous territories, Red called for the exit and led them all outside. Eri appreciated it as they walked toward their next destination.

"Our next stop is Engineering, if you wish, we can grab a few tools to see if we can repair you shuttle for you."

Eri perked up slightly.

"Are you sure? How much would that cost? I am afraid I don't have much money."

The Starfleet officer shook his head and smiled at her.

"Don't worry. As long as we are able to fix it with onboard supplies it wouldn't cost you anything"

"Really? What about your own repairs?"

"The essential repairs are already taken care of. We were scheduled to return to spacedock after our mission anyway so the rest can be done then. You don't have access to any other facilities at the moment and at least we do it for free."

-AO-

A few minutes later the three were standing in the middle of engineering, the guests staring up at the large glowing blue column reaching from beneath the deck to the overhead. Eri took a look at one of the consoles, unable to decipherer the alien writing.

"What is this thing?"

Red stood slightly confused and responded to her question with some slight hesitation.

"That is our warp core." Seeing the two with still confused faces, he continued. "You know, the reaction chamber that powers a warp drive?"

Both looked at the man strangely. Ratula asked first.

"Warp drive? Is that some sort of propulsion system like hyperdrive?"

Half the engineers stopped what they were doing at the question and a dozen sets of eyes were gazing at the two with shock. Suddenly feeling uncomfortable, Ratula and Eri wondered if the question was inappropriate as even Kagami was staring at them as if they were crazy. Before the Starfleet captain could respond, an engineer stepped forward, several tools hanging from a waist band.

"Never heard of warp drive? Captain, where exactly are these people from?"

"They are guests from another galaxy, chief."

The chief engineer looked at the two with slight apprehension.

"Don't have warp drive in your galaxy?"

Both shook their heads, wondering why exactly these people were making such a big deal about this 'warp drive'.

"How exactly are you able to travel faster than light? You must have some sort of superluminal drive system."

"He said we use hyperdrive." Eri said, raising an eyebrow as a few engineers sniggered behind their hands. The chief engineer shook his head and looked at the Imperial officer to see if this was some type of joke, but the man just nodded his head. Rolling his eyes and muttering something under his breath, he looked back up at the two.

"Hyperdrive? One needs hyperspace in order for a hyperdrive to work."

Eri looked at him as if _he_ was the one who was crazy.

"Well duh, how can one travel without hyperspace? Or produce power without hypermatter reactors?"

Just as the chief engineer was about to comment, Ratula suddenly remembered the scans that they took just moments before the earlier battle.

"Hyperspace doesn't exist here in this galaxy does it?"

Both Red and the chief turned their heads to the captain.

"No, it is just a theoretical domain in this galaxy. Efforts to prove existence of hyperspace have turned up fruitless. So are you saying that your galaxy has it?"

"Yes we do and we use it for our primary means of faster than light transportation and communication."

The chief gazed at him wide eyed and spoke up.

"So you actually have hyperdrives? How fast can your ships go?"

"We can run from the center of the galaxy to the edge in just a few weeks, maybe a few days if you got the right route and fast enough drive."

The Starfleet crew gazed in amazement at the two, tension lessening as Ratula and Eri noticed the awe on their faces. Continuing on, the Imperial captain explained further.

"A recent experiment showed that hyperspace and hypermatter can't be supported if the subspace boundary is not stabilized. When we exited the wormhole, our scans showed that your subspace is very wild and unpredictable. I think that you weren't able to prove hyperspace here because there was no opportunity for it to form in the first place."

Red and the chief nodded in comprehension.

"Our hyperdrives work by releasing energy in a rapid burst, distorting subspace just enough to accelerate us into hyperspace."

"Warp drive does something similar here. However instead of propelling us into hyperspace, we just continually ride the waves at superluminal speeds."

Eri looked a bit lost; everyone was using sophisticated words to explain their concepts again. Fortunately they were still using words that she understood. However, she never recalled an experiment such as the one that Ratula was talking about.

"Before we continue, I do not recall any experiment like that being reported." Eri said, looking at Ratula in suspicion again.

The man looked at her and sighed, glancing around slightly before replying.

"The Empire was secretly experimenting with hypermatter before Endor."

"If it was secret, why are you telling us?"

"The admirals were trying to find a more efficient form of fuel for some project at the Kuat Yards, but neither they nor I trusted Kalaghata with this information so they sent him to the unknown regions with me to babysit him. We were there for a few weeks when you showed up and you already know what happened next."

The others looked at him in interest.

"What exactly is this project, captain?"

"I am afraid I do not know, it is top secret even from most of the admirals."

Eri looked at him in annoyance, speaking out.

"We hope that this secret project is not some sort of Death Star."

"If there is one thing I know Ms. Eri, is that it is definitely not a Death Star, but is some kind of ship. I myself don't like what I have heard about this project and will try to find out more about it for you."

Everyone looked at him in amazement.

"Did you just say that you are going to spy on your own people, for us?"

"…yes."

* * *

><p>AN: Then we start the primary plotline. Sorry for the delay as it is now nearing finals week and it is definitely screwing me over. Hopefully I can update more quickly soon. This chapter is somewhat heavy on explanations, but bear with me. Almost everything will become important plotwise except for the chief engineer character...I want to keep the number of main characters down to a minimum. Please R&R.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own these franchises and they are the property of their respective owners.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 9:<strong>

Red took in the man with interest. It was one thing to spy on your own people, but it is another to calmly do so for a group you have barely met….

"_HOW DARE YOU TELL ME TO SPY ON THE EMPIRE!"_

_The bridge was quiet as the imperial officer glared at Doran, who cowered slightly under his rage. Things weren't going well. The Arcana was heavily damaged and was in desperate need of repair. Although the Imperial warship agreed to a cease fire, its captain was not exactly a calm negotiating man._

"_Just because I have decided to ally myself to you does not mean I will go around divulging Imperial secrets!" Captain Ratula roared, his face becoming redder. "Grand Admiral Thrawn will have my head that I have already slipped up and told you about the ship!"_

_Kagami shook his head and tried to step in before matters became worse, already the man had fatally shot the couple from the small shuttle seeking refuge…_

Mentally slapping himself, he shrugged the strange vision away and pulled out a slight grimace. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Eri with a similar expression before quickly snapping to and interrogating the officer.

"Why would you spy on your own people? Do you know what you are saying?"

Ratula took a quick look at her, a look of slight annoyance yet at the same time a distant emotion that she couldn't read. 'Something was not right' she thought. There was a strange ripple in the Force a few moments ago; as if someone did something very far away, but then again it also felt like as if it happened in the same room as her. A chirping sound caught the attention of the small group, interrupting her train of thought and saving Ratula from answering her question. Red looked down and tapped his combadge.

"Captain Kagami here, go ahead."

"Captain? It's me Horace, are you okay down there? We are about to beam back."

"Acknowledged. I will come up to transporter room 3 to meet you."

Turning around, he ordered a few engineers to grab some equipment and head down to the shuttle bay to repair Eri's shuttle before going back to his guests, who were back to being questioned by the chief.

"Do you have any plans or schematics to aid us in your repairs?"

The redhead nodded.

"Yes, the interface may be a bit slow from damage but the data is still in the shuttle's computer." She paused for a moment, before continuing. "The problem though is that it's written in our language, so you'll need me to translate the script."

Red stepped in, nodding to the chief.

"Just see what you can fix for now, I will join all of you shortly after my sister and the others are back aboard."

Leaving engineering, he turned and took the turbolift back to the transporter room. As he waited for the others to beam over, the swish of the doors announced the arrival of Ambrosio.

"There you are! Where have you been? You disappeared right after the meeting and I had to take care of the tour myself." Red scolded lightly.

The security officer raised an eyebrow.

"Tour? Oh…our guests." He muttered, his eyes flickering with something before he apologized. "Sorry captain, I had to take care of some personal business…again."

"You have been attending to a lot of personal business today Mister Ambrosio. If it weren't on Starfleet's personal request, I would have imposed some penalties." Red replied with a look before turning his head at the whine of the transporter.

Three figures materialized on the receiving pad as the beam over was completed. The captain of the _Arcana_ noticed that Doran had dyed his hair as he happily jogged up to him.

"Captain!" The teen laughed, waving a small stack of old-looking paper booklets. "Aunty Haumea gave me some new manga! I decided to dye my hair to look like the main character from this one!" he exclaimed, holding up the mentioned book.

"I tried to dye Hora-sama's like the other character but he didn't want to…"

Red looked over the officer's shoulder to see Horace grimly pulling on his hair in the background, half of it colored a bright yellow. His sister stood on the side, a large grin on her face at the doctor's misfortune.

"Doctor, is everything alright? Did my sister try anything too dangerous?"

The normally brown-haired physician scowled at him.

"Unless you consider her giving the teenage sugar-addicted alcoholic some old Japanese comics ("MANGA!" shouted the two) and _both_ of them trying to paint my hair as dangerous, not in the slightest. She just wanted a report on your…condition_._" He supplied, still tugging at the blond locks. "I hope this isn't permanent…"

The large grin on Haumea's face said otherwise.

-AO-

Eri looked up as the four Starfleet officers walked up to them. The shuttle was still being examined and repaired by the Starfleet engineers, with some reluctant help by the stormtroopers.

"Welcome back….why is his hair pink?" She asked, pointing to the first officer. Glancing around, she also looked at the patch of gold on the doctor's head.

"I do not want to talk about it." He helpfully answered.

Red chuckled and turned back to her.

"Have you been able to complete your message?"

"Yes, the imp….I mean captain has a copy of it but your officers were having a bit of difficulty with some other repairs so he is helping them…"

"Captain Aka'ula! Captain Haumea! You both want to take a look at this!" an engineer called, stepping out of the shuttle with a PADD alongside a science officer.

Eri glared at him for being interrupted, but the officer just shrugged and waved them to come closer.

The group strode over, Red taking the PADD from the man.

"What is it?" He asked, looking down at the alien glyphs and diagrams.

"General information that we gathered from the shuttle's computer. With captain Ratula's help, we were able to create a formatting-conversion program to communicate between our systems. However, I want you to take a look at this."

The engineer scrolled down the page, stopping and pointing at a series of schematics. Red examined it carefully, looking at the various images that dotted the screen. Zooming in to a few blocks of text, he let out a short gasp. Intermingled between the glyphs were…

"Are those Arabic numerals?" Haumea asked, looking over her brother's shoulder at the PADD.

"Arabic numerals?"

Ratula walked around from the other side of the shuttle, looking at her with a curious look. Eri also looked curious, looking between the PADD and the group."

"They are numerals that were developed as a part of one planet Earth's native languages." Horace explained, taking the PADD and looking at it closely.

"But those have been part of the Aurebesh for eons!"

"Aurebesh?"

"It's what we call that script. But how can we have the same numeral glyphs as an Earth language?"

"That is not the only strange thing." The scientist interrupted, indicating that she still needed to speak.

"I am a xeno-linguist and had taken a quick look at the script and compared it to those in our database. Look at the comparison."

The group huddled around the PADD as the linguist pressed a few buttons. The screen split in two, one side with the original screen, the other translated into Federation Standard English. Doran spoke up as he noticed something odd.

"The spacing and lettering are the same."

"That's because I think that despite the Alphabet and the Aurebesh being from different places, they are merely substitution ciphers of each other…which means that each letter corresponds directly to one in the other script." The linguist explained after receiving blank looks from the others.

"But…" Eri started, more confused. "…how is that possible? I mean, even if Aurebesh and your…Alphabet are the same, why would the spacing be also? Just a while ago we were having trouble communicating! Basic and English are two different languages! The only way the spacing should be the same is if were speaking the _same_ language."

'She really does think rationally' Ambrosio and Ratula thought, both not aware that each other was having similar thoughts. They were interrupted however when a storm trooper ran up holding a comm-link.

"Sir! The Admiral somehow escaped his cell! He is attempting to steal a shuttle!"

"What? How did he…? Never mind, inform the crew to seal off the hanger!"

The Starfleet officers watched the exchange in surprise, before Red turned back to the linguist and engineer.

"I'm sorry but we'll have a more thorough debriefing later. Just transfer what you can into the ship's database. But for now…yellow alert!"

Eri was glaring at Ratula, barely registering the Starfleet crew packing up and the storm troopers anxious at the klaxon and blinking yellow lights. 'I'd bet anything that they let him go on purpose.' She continued glaring at him as they followed Haumea, the storm troopers right behind.


	10. Chapter 10

(7 Feb 2012) Authors Note: Very sorry for the impromptu hiatus, had to deal with a lot over the past few weeks and couldn't update the two chapters I had written. So those who are watching this story, please read chapter 9 first.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the original characters.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 10:<strong>

Kalaghata shot several guards as he rounded the corner. Earlier he was just sitting and waiting in his cell, cursing the man who ordered him there when he heard them. It was a bit strange, a few distant voices emanating from his pendant, the same ones responsible for his incarceration. However he knew instinctively that it wasn't a trick of his mind, he had processed the thing forever, and it never failed him.

Listening closely, he could pick up what they were saying. He could care less about the pitiful girl's sob story, yet filed the fact that she was a Jedi away for later. What he was more interested in was what was said a while later. 'A secret hyperdrive experiment for a classified ship? Damn those imbeciles!'

Now that he knew that the other admirals were just banishing him to get him out of their hair, they will pay severely. Glancing around to see if the guards were occupied, he whipped out an object from his pocket. The lights flickered and went out, and in the ensuing confusion, there was a loud bang as the Admiral made his escape, blowing out the bulkhead and jumping through the smoking hole.

Smirking, he quickly pocketed the object, glad he picked it up in his travels. He had to keep his little toy secret for just a bit longer. Bending down, he took the gun from a poor crewman that was knocked out from the blast then ran toward the shuttle bay, shooting anyone that he encountered. That secret ship will be his….

-AO-

"Where are we going, and why does my crew have to follow us? We need to get back to my ship not go on another tour!" Ratula called out, following the Starfleet officer as they rounded the corner and entered a strange room.

"We know, but a shuttle will take too long so we are just going to beam you over!" Haumea replied ushering him and his confused guards onto a platform as her brother tapped at a control panel.

"What do you mean beam…." A weird tingling sensation came over him and the next thing he saw was the hanger bay of his ship. "…over?"

Blinking, he realized that it was the same trick that they had used to bring him aboard the _Arcana_. Turning around, he accessed a nearby commlink.

"Captain to bridge, give me an update!"

"Captain? How did you…the admiral has somehow left the detention area already and is almost near the hanger. We tried erecting force fields and sealing bulkheads but somehow his command codes are still operational. He has already disabled the propulsion and weapons systems! If he escapes, we won't be able to do anything! He'll enter the shuttle bay any moment now."

As if on cue, a door on the other side of the room slid open.

-AO-

Everyone was tense on the _Arcana's_ bridge. Haumea beamed over to her ship right after the imperials had been transported. Both ships had their sensors trained on the hanger of the gigantic warship, an image of a firefight filling the viewscreen. Eri was impressed, despite the situation.

"It looks like as if we are watching them through a window. You sure you can't get sound through their shields?" she whispered to Ambrosio.

"Their shields went up right after we beamed them over. Our imaging sensors are strong enough to get through, but we can't detect the audio." Ambrosio grimaced, watching as a storm trooper was blasted by the admiral's gun. "Let's hope they can stop him, we can't have another war."

Eri turned to look at him. "Captain Ratula told us the other admirals wouldn't allow him access to some of their secrets. How can he lead to another war?"

The security chief ignored her question, instead looking down to read the data pouring into the security console. 'Not this time. Damn these wars, I can't handle anymore.' He thought, absentmindedly tightening his grip on the console's sides.

The Jedi noticed the small gesture, adding it to her list of future questions. Another light gasp from Aka'ula made her turn back to the screen.

-AO-

"Why are you going to betray the Empire?" Kalaghata shouted over the blasts, ducking behind the shuttle, trying to reach the hatch access panel. "You are allying yourself with the Federation! An enemy and future territory of the Galactic Empire!"

"The Empire is nearly finished you fool! The Alliance itself was already difficult to control, you think that we can last in a war against the Federation?" Ratula retaliated, dodging a blast that struck another guard down. Now it was only him, the admiral and one other soldier, who was attempting to sneak around for an attack on the Admiral from behind as Ratula had his attention.

"The Federation is weak! They aren't worthy of existing anymore!" came a shout, Ratula ducking again behind a crate as a blaster bolt sailed overhead and blackened a spot on the bulkhead behind him. "They have no will to fight! They believe in the pathetic things like love and camaraderie! Any sane man knows that the only way to win a war is to destroy anything in the way!"

"Then consider me insane for helping others!" Ratula shouted. "I will start helping the Federation _and_ the Alliance by preventing you from entering your shuttle!" He jumped back from behind the crate and fired a few more rounds at the admiral.

Ratula knew that that particular shuttle was different from the others. Kalaghata had only agreed to join the mission had he been allowed to take his personal shuttle. While the captain didn't know what it was capable of (Kalaghata didn't allow anyone near it), he did know that it had a fast hyperdrive.

"Well then you will die with the rest of them!" The admiral fired several more shots and watched as Ratula jumped back behind a crate. Seizing his chance, he quickly punched in his ID code into the hatch's keypad.

The hissing of an opening hatch made Ratula panic. Quickly jumping over the crate, he began wildly firing in the Admiral's general direction. Unfortunately the storm trooper was as well, both their shots missing the admiral and instead hitting the other person. Ratula hissed in pain and fell to the deck. He had dodged most of the blast but it burnt his thigh; it now smoking in an ugly black and red color. The soldier was unlucky, catching the full blast in his face plate.

A cruel laugh made the captain look up, the admiral smirking at him before turning around and closing the hatch behind him. Ratula watched in anger as the shuttle lifted off and dropped through the hanger bay doors.

-AO-

Haumea was furious. She watched as Ratula clutched his leg and fell forward, his gun spinning out of his reach. The admiral, smirking, took off in his shuttle and was now attempting to reach the wormhole. She would not allow this. Especially since this was the same man who had attacked her little brother and the people she personally thought of as siblings as well.

"OPEN A CHANNEL NOW!"

The conn-officer flinched slightly at the yell but did as she was told.

"Admiral Kalaghata! This is Captain Haumea Kagami of the starship _Thunder Child_! Cut off your engines and surrender immediately!"

"I have no intention of surrender, Madam." came a mocking voice. Haumea growled; she could see the man smirking at her despite the lack of a visual. "Why don't you come and get me?"

"Lock onto him with a tractor beam!"

The _Akira_-class ship surged forward, tractor beams engaging as it attempted to lock onto the shuttle. Despite its attempts, the beams couldn't affect the shuttle, mostly just reflecting away as they touched the shuttle's shield. The _Arcana _stepped in as well, firing phasers at the imperial craft. A flash of light occurred as the phasers struck, the crew of all three ships wondering if they had blown it up.

Eri and Ambrosio however were skeptical, both of them noticing strange bands of light momentarily engulfing the shuttle before the beams hit. A peal of laughter over the channel made Haumea growl again, as the light faded and the shuttle appeared unharmed.

"You really need to remember who you are dealing with! I had dealt with Federation technology before, and I know their weaknesses! Not only that, this shuttle has some _modifications_ that can allow it to fight even a Super Star Destroyer without a scratch! And with that, I bid you farewell."

The admiral closed the channel and with a quick burst of speed his shuttle disappeared into the wormhole.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I do not own any franchises, only the original characters. Everything else is owned by their respective companies.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 11:<strong>

_Captain's Log, Stardate: 64561.68_

_It has been two hours since Admiral Kalaghata had disappeared through the wormhole. After being attended to by Doctor Smith, Captain Ratula and his crew have also gone through to search and apprehend the runaway after delivering Ms Eri's message. Hopefully their respective governments will be willing to open up negotiations. Meanwhile Starfleet Command has ordered both the Arcana and Thunder Child back to Earth for debriefing. Until I receive further instructions I have placed Ms Eri in the guest quarters and given her general access to the ship's database._

Ambrosio pressed the door chime, having decided to check up on the red headed Jedi. A few moments later the girl let him in, a small scowl on her face when she saw who was visiting.

"What do you want?" She asked, flopping into the chair by the desk.

Ambrosio took a quick glance at the computer display behind her before sitting down on the bed to answer her question.

"As security chief I must make sure that every person on this ship is accounted for. I just came to check up on you. It is rare to have a guest aboard this ship, even rarer to have one from another galaxy. I see you are reading up on Captain Kirk?" He inquired, nodding to the image that was currently displayed.

Eri nodded, her scowl lessening a bit as she turned around to look at the file.

"Not so much reading as listening to your computer talk about him. Thank goodness your systems are voice controlled. I am barely able to read this stuff."

Eri sighed, glancing up to examine the face of the past Starfleet Officer.

"The man's record is pretty impressive for someone who has no abilities in the Force. I am also intrigued by his former partners. Admiral McCoy seems a lot like your doctor Smith and Ambassador Spock seemed rather ambitious to attempt reunification between his people and these…Romulates?"

Ambrosio chuckled.

"They are Romulans and yes, he was rather ambitious. I had always wanted to meet the Ambassador, too bad he went missing. I even remember as a child wishing to be like him, so calm and collected and capable of handling the crap life threw at him…" he drifted off, a small look of admiration and nostalgia on his face.

Eri glanced back at the security officer, surprised at how the small smile seemed to change the man's image significantly. For the few hours that she had known him, he was always snapping at others and or just smirking in the background. To see a genuinely happy smile made him look more…like a kind older brother she thought, fully examining his features.

The man had golden hair, but with the amount of gray interwoven, it looked almost pale. His skin was marked with a few very faint scars. So faint in fact that no one could notice them without looking for it. But what was really startling was the look off his eyes. Their blue color was dulled, close to lifeless, yet one didn't need to be a Jedi to see the soul behind them. It seemed gentle, caring yet at the same time with a kind of determination and confidence. There was another feeling that she could barely see, leaning in for a better look, something that seemed hidden, what is it…?

"What are you doing?"

Ambrosio snapped out of his thoughts with a raised eyebrow. Eri blushed, realizing how close their faces were, staggering back in embarrassment and tripping over her own feet. Chuckling, Ambrosio extended his hand out and the Jedi reluctantly allowed him to help her up.

"S…s…sorry. I didn't mean to invade your personal space, I…I mean…"

The man just raised his hand to silence her.

"Let's just pretend you didn't do anything. Okay?" He smiled slightly.

He took a look at the Jedi before him. She was now wearing a combadge on her recently cleaned clothes. Without the dirt and grime, the bright tunic seemed to exaggerate the colors of her hair and eyes more. With the confused and somewhat scared look in them, Ambrosio couldn't help but notice she bore a resemblance to…

Eri gulped a bit, feeling uncomfortable. Why was he looking at her so intently now? Panicking as he stared her down further, she summed up her courage and Force pushed him off the bed. However in her panic she used a bit too much and sent him skidding a few feet across the deck.

"What the…?" Ambrosio winced as his back burnt slightly from the friction.

"I'm sorry!" the Jedi apologized, leaning over the bed. "You were kind of scaring me with your staring so I kind of panicked…"

"Don't apologize. I'm the one who should be sorry. I never realized how much you looked like…" he trailed off again, closing his eyes and turning his head away.

"Like who?" Eri asked, still worried about his back.

The security officer stood up, wincing slightly, before heading back out the door.

"Nothing, just forget about it. Sorry to bother you."

Eri watched as the doors shut, strangely feeling upset that he left.

-AO-

Horace sat in his office, grimacing at the workload that his staff had dumped on him. Sighing, he picked up a PADD and began transferring the data into the computer before picking up the next.

"Might as well get these things downloaded into the system. Otherwise my desk will be overrun with PADDs…again." He spoke to himself as he tossed another PADD into a tray behind him. Looking up at the hiss of the doors, he watched as Doran walked in with the Captain.

"Captain? Commander? What are you two doing here?"

"Has Fintan seen you lately?" The pink-haired first officer asked, concern evident in his tone.

"Lieutenant Ambrosio? No. I haven't seen him since the Imperialists left. Why do you ask?"

Red sat down on a nearby bio-bed, running his hand through his somewhat messy hair.

"The lieutenant seemed a bit more depressed than usual after he went to check up on Ms Eri. He has this dazed look and is barely pays attention to where he is going. I had already bumped into him several times while on my rounds."

Doran nodded.

"I also found him in the holodeck after our shift was over. He was replaying _that_ program."

Both of the other officers looked up at that. Horace's eyes widening slightly as he realized something.

"Now that you mention it, Ms Eri does sort of look like…" he gasped, setting down the PADD he was holding.

"Now this is concerning…" Aka'ula spoke up, catching on. "I remember reading his history when he was first assigned. It took him _years_ to get over her death. Now we have a look alike on board and that will no doubt be unhealthy for his mental state."

Horace keyed into his console, taking a look at the display.

"The lieutenant is safely in his room according to his combadge signal. I'll arrange for a consoling session with him as soon as it is convenient."

With a shake of his head, he turned off the display and turned back to the other two.

"Things are getting out of hand. Too many people around us have problems. You, captain, with your own mental conditions, the commander with his childhood amnesia (the Captain glanced over to his first officer, now remembering the reports he read), Ambrosio with his depression and now we are dealing with a refugee and an insane admiral from the remnants of a galaxy spanning empire. And that is just the personal problems!" He spoke, rubbing his temples to soothe his headache. "This morning my sonic shower malfunctioned, several of the chronometers in my instruments were desynchronized, and the replicators burnt my fruit salad! A salad! Had to go to the mess deck just to grab a piece of toast. What the hell is going on here?"

"I really don't know." Aka'ula replied, standing up. Stretching a bit, he turned to his first officer.

"I want you to work with the engineers and complete a thorough examination on all of the ship's systems and equipment. We will be entering Spacedock tomorrow so I want to get this ship repaired and scrubbed clean from top to bottom."

'Yes sir"

"Doctor?"

"Yes captain?"

"Notify me of the results of your session with Ambrosio. I will be back in my quarters reviewing the personnel files if anyone needs me. I also want to know what is going on."

"Aye captain."

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><p>Author's Note: Sorry that my chapters are getting a bit shorter. But this plot is going through a roller coaster, or should I say IS a roller coaster and this chapter itself is very important. Sorry that I had thrown Doran's amnesia at you, but I had realized that I haven't included it in any earlier chapters, so it will be explained in the next update. Until then, read and (hopefully) review.<p> 


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I do not own anything. All universes and associated material belong to respective owners. I claim just orginal characters.

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><p><strong>Chapter 12:<strong>

The dim glow of the PADD lit up Red's face, highlighting the dark circles under his eyes. For the past few hours he reviewed half of the crew's personnel files and had yet to come up with anything. Some officers had decent grades at the academy; others had impressive skills in mathematics or subspace theory. Yet compared to his senior officers, they were barely noticeable. Flicking his thumb across a button, he pulled up Doran's own file.

Name(s): Doran [assumed]  
>Species: Unknown Shape shifter [normally appears human]<br>Age: Unknown [normally appears to be approx. 17 Terran yrs old, see above]  
>Sex: Male<br>Current Assignment: Executive Officer [Rank: Cmdr] - _USS Arcana_ NCC-74742  
>Bio: Found lost and confused on SD 61764.47 on emergency recovery mission of Cmdr Aka'ula Kagami by Dr Horace J. Smith. This being has not been able to recall his past or origins. When brought to Starfleet Medical HQ, was found to have multiple signs of abuse and malnutrition. Refused to be placed alone and preferred the presence of Dr Smith. After several weeks of therapy and recovery, proved himself of high competence and was given a temporary Starfleet commission alongside Aka'ula Kagami under direct supervision. Both given full promotion and rank on SD 64423.29<p>

Aka'ula shook his head. He couldn't believe he had forgotten about that. Ever since Horace rescued both him and Doran, the young teen wouldn't leave his side, following the doctor around like a confused puppy. After he was reinstated and Doran was fully commissioned, it was Doran's own insistence that forced Horace to be reassigned aboard the same ship though he had a feeling that Haumea had a strong hand in that as well. She had cooed over the kid like another brother when she first met him at Starfleet Medical and had a lot of connections with Starfleet Brass. She was even the one who helped him choose his normal teenage appearance. Turning off the PADD, he put it on the desk and climbed into his bed. He really needed some sleep.

-AO-

The chill was not something that Ratula liked. Walking down the corridor, he wondered if the environmental controls weren't functioning again in the base they called headquarters. Why they would build it in the polar regions of an ice planet was beyond his comprehension. He could even see his own breath as he entered the command center, looking around for any of the admirals. Looking around, he watched as people shuffled around equipment and reports, data holocrons scattered around the various shelves and consoles. Sighing, he turned around to look somewhere else when a voice called him over.

"Captain Ratula, what are you doing here? I thought you were patrolling the Unknown Regions with Kalaghata!"

Looking back, Ratula saw an admiral waving him over from across another doorway. Winding around the maze of people and machinery, he walked up to the elderly man that called him.

"Admiral! I hadn't seen you there. Sorry that I came in unannounced but this is important!"

The man rubbed his chin, taking in the captain's expression before nodding and leading him to his office. Shutting the door behind him, Ratula began explaining how Kalaghata had instigated a battle with the UFP, escaped and is now somehow aware of the Kuat Yard's project. The imperial admiral before him nodded, taking in the information.

"So Kalaghata is now somewhere out there and wants revenge on all of us?"

"In general terms, yes sir."

"And what about the Federation? It is an unknown entity. Rather small since they only own a fraction of their galaxy. I express some concern about this."

Ratula closed his eyes and bowed slightly, thinking quietly for a few seconds.

"I understand your reservations sir, but the Federation is unexpectedly powerful for an entity of its size and age. It is only about three centuries old, yet it fields ships utilizing power sources and weaponry to outclass almost any vessel of equivalent size on this side of the wormhole. They use antimatter to power their ships or as warheads of torpedoes when we ourselves can barely create stable antimatter reactors. Their shields are formidable and their weapons can pass through imperial shielding like as if we had none. Should we fight them, we may win the war through sheer mass and numbers by ourselves, but we will suffer an extreme amount of loss in turn. At that is if they don't receive help from the Alliance…"

The admiral observed him carefully, judging on the validity of the man's word.

"If what you say is true, it would be prudent to form an alliance with them ourselves. But we must take into account the Alliance. They are about to reestablish a new Galactic Republic once more and there will be no doubt that they also would wish negotiation with the Federation."

Ratula stiffened a little.

"On that note sir, I must tell you that I had to deliver a message for the young Jedi girl to Coruscant."

Narrow eyes made the captain flinch slightly, making him turn his head down.

"You contacted the Alliance without authorization? Why haven't you asked for our approval?"

"Forgive me Admiral. But it was our own fault that she got stranded; I thought it was necessary considering the circumstances. The Alliance would have somehow found out regardless so might as well pull the bandage quickly and get it over with."

The admiral shook his head.

"If you had been any other man I would have you decommissioned on the spot. But for all the years I have known you, your judgment has never failed us. What is done is done. Kalaghata is the most urgent matter and must be dealt with immediately. I will try to contact the other admirals as soon as possible. They are currently in various places throughout the base. As you've already noticed, our environmental controls have failed again and since we are understaffed at the moment they are helping with the repairs. For now, I need you to take your ship and standby in orbit. Use your long range scanners to detect for Kalaghata's shuttle. At least that will give us some time to figure out our next course of action."

"Yes sir."

-AO-

The chirping noise was too shrill. Burying his head beneath his pillow, Doran ignored it and tried to get more sleep. Another loud chirp and he gave up. Throwing his pillow at the bulkhead, he ordered the computer to shut off his alarm clock and reluctantly dragged himself to the head. An hour later found the teen perfectly fine and having a pretty normal morning: eating breakfast, harassing Horace, getting kicked out of sickbay, bridge duty, getting kicked out of sickbay again, followed by lunch.

Ordering a quick sandwich from the replicator, he looked up to see Eri sitting in a corner, holding a glass of water and staring out the window. Grabbing his plate, he walked over her and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Mind if I join you?"

"No, not at all."

Setting his plate down, Doran took a look at the redhead. 'She really does look like her…' he thought, nibbling on his sandwich.

"Commander? What do you think of lieutenant Ambrosio?"

Choking a bit at the strange question, he swallowed a bit and cocked his head.

"Fintan? May I ask what do you want to know?"

Eri took a tentative sip from her glass and set it on the table. Turning her head, hear green eyes met grey ones.

"He came to check on me yesterday, but he acted a bit…strange, and then left. I haven't seen him since. May I ask if there is anything wrong?"

Doran bit his lip, trying to think of what to tell her. Deciding it was rude for him to tell her the full story without Ambrosio's permission, he shook his head.

"Let's just say that there are things in the past that haunt all of us, including the lieutenant. You kind of remind him of someone that he lost a long time ago. You yourself should be aware of how much this can affect people."

Eri nodded and looked away for a bit.

"Something is not right here, I mean, everything feels a bit warped in the Force, like someone or something is trying to do something massive and evil. All of this chaos kind of pushed it from my mind, but now that I had some time to meditate, I can't ignore it any longer."

The Starfleet officer merely watched her, slight confusion on the young face before taking a look at a clock display on the wall.

"We have a couple hours before we enter Terran space. You keep talking about this Force. I also remember captain Ratula calling you a Jedi for some reason. Care to explain what these are?"

Eri looked up, remembering that these people had no knowledge of the Force. Turning her whole body to face him, she knew she had to explain everything.

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><p>AN: More explainations next chapter and a reappearance of Kalaghata. Story is kinda getting dodgy at the moment, so please review so I can hopefully make things better!


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I do not own anything except original characters!

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><p><strong>Chapter 13:<strong>

"Where to begin…" Eri stated, running her finger around the rim of her glass. "The Force is a kind of power that resides in all living things. Plants, animals, every person is connected to it. However, only certain people are capable of tapping into it. These 'Force-users' are capable of great mental and physical feats from reading minds or emotions to controlling objects."

Doran cocked his head slightly.

"Intriguing, but rather vague. So this 'Force' is some kind of supernatural power that exists everywhere?"

The red-head nodded. Reaching out her hand and concentrating, Doran watched in interest as her glass began to hover over the table. With a quick wave, the cup glided over to a replicator station and sat down on the shelf.

"Impressive. But what about 'Jedi'? What is that?"

"The Jedi were an order that was supposed to align itself with the benevolent, generally good side of the Force. The 'light side' as you will. However, in opposition to us, the Sith Lords preferred the 'dark-side', using the Force for hatred and malevolence. The Galactic Empire was founded by a Sith Lord, taking over the Old Republic's senate and ordering the complete genocide of the Jedi. I was one of the few younglings to escape the initial purge, Master Traugott helped hide my family and me."

"Your master?" repeated Doran, eyebrow raised.

"Not like a slave owner…" Eri explained, clearing up his confusion. "…in the Order, a Master was someone who had done all of his or her training, and had taken a youngling to tutor and instruct. It is they who help us learn in the ways of the Force and guide us in how to build and use a lightsaber."

"A lightsaber? Is that some kind of weapon?"

"Yes and no…"

Unclipping the saber from her belt, she raised it up so the Starfleet officer could see before reattaching it back on her belt.

"While it is a plasma bladed sword, we Jedi are supposed to see it as a tool. A symbol of good and authority, only to be drawn as a last resort and only for defensive purposes. Normally they are hand crafted and unique to each person. I was able to escape the purge for the reason that I was off with my Master gathering materials for my own saber. It was almost completed when we got word…" her voice started getting softer. Doran strained his ears slightly to catch what she said.

"…to hear that your friends had died at the government you once trusted. Master Traugott quickly took me to my mother but then it was too late. They had somehow found out about us. When we arrived, the storm troopers were already torching my home town to the ground trying to find me. My master was able to distract them just long enough for my mother and I to escape with the other evacuees before we watched him gunned to the ground." Angry tears started forming her eyes as she glared at the table. Her voice cracking slightly, she continued. "My mother was able to hang on just a bit longer, but she succumbed to her injuries a week later."

Eri wiped her tears and looked up at Doran, who placed his hand on her shoulder in an attempt at comfort. Appreciating the gesture, she calmed herself a bit.

"Before her death though, she had asked me to find someone." The young Jedi said, looking down at her hands. "She wanted me to try to find my father's friend. According to her, the man was from a rich family indebted to my father after he sacrificed his own life to save them in the old clone wars. I was supposed to call upon his life debt to rebuild our childhood home for her as a last request. However she had only met him once and couldn't recall exactly who he was, so I had spent years going from planet to planet trying to find him. That piece of scrap metal sitting in your shuttle bay was supposed to help me do it."

Doran frowned, feeling somewhat angry at the fact she couldn't accomplish her mother's mission due to the Empire's interference.

"If you don't know who he is, how can you find him?"

Eri pulled up the sleeve of her tunic to reveal an armband that Doran didn't notice before. It was a simple brown band that was fairly skinny. A single silver disk was attached to the side. Engraved upon it was a small yet elegant design.

"This right here is my family's badge. Although my mother said that she couldn't remember what the man looked like, she did remember giving him a smaller version of the badge as a gift. All I have to do if find the man that has it."

Doran took another look at the silver disk before Eri lowered her sleeve again. Seeing as she just told him her life story, he decided to tell his own.

"Listen. I'm sorry about your loss, I myself barely remember my own childhood, let alone who my parents were…"

Eri looked at him in shock, she had not known this.

"The earliest thing I can recall was being a prisoner aboard a ship. Almost everyone aboard was trying to get something from me, what it was I don't know. I was constantly tortured and beaten. Sometimes I was denied food or water for days at a time. The worst of them all was…the commander. He was ruthless and cruel. I almost wished for death than to be in his presence as he would bring me to the edge before just letting me heal naturally. And then Horace appeared."

"The doctor?"

"Yes, though he was on a mission to retrieve Red, who was also being held hostage at the time in another cell. When I met him, Horace was the first person to actually act kind to me, deciding to help me get free despite the risk to him and Red. We were barely able to escape, but at the last minute the commander caught up to us and…" he trailed off, a slight look of horror on his face.

Eri looked at him, she could tell that he was for some reason not telling the whole truth, but let it side as she saw his discomfort.

"…anyway Red and I spent several weeks recovering from the ordeal. I never got to thank Horace for the rescue, always following him around at first trying to do so. Then I met Red's sister Haumea. She was there yelling at Horace one day and I kind of snapped and attacked her."

"Attacked her? Why?"

"I…I…I thought that Horace didn't deserve the abuse and tried to stop her." Doran blushed a bit at the memory and Eri raised an eyebrow.

"He was the first person I could call a friend!" He defended himself, growing a bit redder.

"Fortunately I was still weak and barely hurt her. Haumea was annoyed at first but after hearing my story, started acting all sisterly and motherly on me, showering me with gifts and affection. After we were released, she somehow was able to get us all jobs on the same ship. Knowing her it was presumably so she can keep an eye on all of us." He stated with a smile.

Eri nodded and looked out the window. The star streaks shortened quickly before giving way to the usual star field. In the distance she could see a moon orbiting blue planet. The occasional flash of light could be seen as a starship entered or dropped out of warp nearby. She watched the scene for a few moments before another flash erupted and the _Thunder Child_ flew over head and then blocked her view. Behind her, Doran spoke up.

"Welcome to Earth: de facto capital world of the United Federation of Planets."

-AO-

Kalaghata smirked slightly, watching as Ratula flew off to his ship in a shuttle. Clutching his jacket closer from the cold, he ran through the closing hanger doors and hid behind a few cargo barrels. Observing the actions of the personnel, he leapt from hiding spot to hiding spot, making his way into the corridor and running off to his personal quarters and office.

Slamming the door behind him as he entered his office he laughed at the foolishness of the people around him. Grabbing a bag, he started piling his things inside, grabbing items from around the room that he believed that he should keep. As soon as he thought he had fully packed he set the bag down and sealed it. Grabbing the object he had used to escape the _Kairos_, he walked through the door leading from the office into his quarters. Eyeing the large computer display that he had installed years ago, he ran his hand along the bottom to find a small switch. Pressing it, the station slid open in a soft drone of gears to reveal a large room behind it. Suddenly it got a lot colder. Although it was already chilly from the broken environmental controls, ice quickly formed on some of the metal surfaces. Seemingly unfazed by the sudden temperature drop and acting like nothing even happened, Kalaghata stepped back with a cruel smile.

"My friends, sorry for locking you up like that but your wait is over."

Dramatically, he laughed and pointed at the doors leading into the corridor.

"_It is time_."

* * *

><p>Author's Note: Made a really bad continuity boo boo. Checking my notes, I had the planet Coruscant under allied control two months after Endor. The EU  C-canon states it was two _years *slaps wrist*_. Fortunately it looks like I don't have that much in the way of re-edits to my story. But for the nit-pickers, current time is still AD 2387 in the Milky Way but now 6 ABY in the GFFA. Unless you want to say this is an alternate universe/timeline...which still works for the storyline i've planned [SPOILER]!

On the brighter side: MORE PLOT! Not only that, but the official multi-crossover cameos of the story kicks off here [MOAR SPOILERS]. Since however the story will still take place primarily in the MW and GFFA, I shall still keep it in the Star Wars - Star Trek: Other category. READ+REVIEW=CHEERS! :D


	14. Chapter 14

Disclaimer: I do not own anything except my original characters. Everything else belongs to the respective owners.

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><p><strong>Chapter 14:<strong>

Eri looked through the glass at all the other ships in spacedock. None of them even approached the sizes of starships that she was used to, yet still they all were impressive in their own way. Unlike the ruthlessly geometric designs of Imperial starships and the mismatched fleet of the Alliance, these ships all had relatively graceful lines and organic shapes with hardly any sharp edges. They somewhat reminded her of cleaned up Mon Calamari ships except with too many windows. Taking a look at the _Arcana_ surrounded by a contingent of support craft nearby, she saw that most of these ships shared the same hull and paired nacelle configuration that Starfleet seemed to prefer.

"Care for anything to drink madam?"

Startled, she whipped around to see a waiter holding a tray filled with snacks and drinks. Declining, she sat down in a chair and took in the other patrons of the lounge she was in. Most of them were human though there were some obvious aliens intermingled within. Some had blue skin, while others were covered in fur; there was even an alien parted black and white clean down the center. Sniggering, she watched as some big eared alien was accused of cheating at a game of cards nearby. The Federation was definitely a rather interesting group. Glancing up at a clock over the bar, she wondered how long the others' debriefing was going to take.

Feeling a presence close by, she looked to the side to see a younger woman standing next to her. Her appearance was rather strange. She had a bald head and an eye patch over her left eye. Her clothes consisted of an orange shirt, patched up brown pants and yellow sneakers. Most strange of all was the giant feather strapped to her back and a large assortment of trinkets clipped to her belt. The girl had a frightened and paranoid look on her face, glancing around and eyeing several of the aliens in the lounge.

"I don't have much time, take this…quickly" she said, holding out a slip of paper while nervously watching a Bolian drinking on the next table.

Eri took the paper and looked at it. She grimaced at the writing, hating the fact that she couldn't read English yet. Looking up to ask the girl what it meant, she saw that she had vanished, no one seeming to have even noticed her presence. Feeling it was somehow important, she pocketed the slip to show someone later.

"Who was she?"

-AO-

"Captains Aka'ula & Haumea Kagami, the report you have sent me is rather fascinating."

The addressed two merely sat as the Vulcan admiral read over the PADD, the usual stoic expression on her face. On the side, Doran, Horace and Ambrosio waited patiently, waiting for the admiral to make a verdict. The Vulcan set the slate down and looked up at the captains.

"Judging from what you sent us, I am afraid that we must still carefully apply the Prime Directive to this case." She said, gauging for their reactions. Seemingly satisfied of their lack of any, she continued.

"The affairs currently happening on the other side of the wormhole are by all means a civil war, regardless of the large scale. It is against current Federation policy to interfere directly. However I will admit that from the state of the _Arcana_ that this does pose a credible threat to our safety and must not be taken lightly."

Noticing the slight look from Red, she tilted her head and raised her eyebrow.

"Do you have a question Mr. Kagami?"

"I am just going to ask what our course of action is. Admiral Kalaghata is no doubt going to try more offenses against the Federation; we won't be able to sit still forever."

The admiral nodded and turned back to the PADD.

"This admiral does seem to be a rather rash individual. His history does pose questions. I don't recall Captain Kirk ever meeting a man by the name of Kalaghata, but that doesn't preclude the possibility that he had changed names in the time after. I will have a few people take a look at the problem themselves. As for the situation regarding the Imperial remnant and the Alliance, I will consult with the other Admirals and possibly the President himself on the matter. The most likely outcome is that we will remain neutral until either party takes hostile action against us. However, until we have further discussions I can't truly predict such. Until then, both of your ships and crew will be given temporary leave from your duties. The _Arcana_ will be sent to Utopia Planitia for repairs and some upgrades that Admiral Janeway wishes done. I expect them to be done in approximately two weeks."

The others in the room looked up at that.

"Admiral Janeway wants to upgrade my ship?"

Sensing the confusion, the Vulcan explained.

"The admiral is not upgrading your ship specifically, but all the ships of the _Intrepid_-class. She feels that they are the best test bed for some of the technologies she had Starfleet R&D look at…including a prototype slipstream drive."

"Slipstream…as in _the_ quantum slipstream drive?"

She nodded.

"Yes, we are upgrading your computer core to compensate for the increased computations needed. You will still have conventional warp drive as well as a new astrometrics lab and sensor packet."

Haumea sat shocked for a moment before reaching out and hugging her brother tightly.

"Red! I can't believe how lucky you are! First a pretty girl practically falls on your lap, and then your ship is getting new upgrades with a full _slipstream drive_! I'm so jealous of you! Here I am with a rust-bucket _Akira_ and Kathy is essentially giving you a _USS Voyager!_"

A fake cough was heard and Haumea released her brother to see the Vulcan with a semi-annoyed expression, not liking the affectionate display or the improper address of a superior.

"_Prototype_ slipstream drive. While we have run a few successful tests, we are still unable to operate it for long durations. The phase variation calculations become too great after a short period. The _Arcana_ is one of the ships that will test it out for wide spread fleet usage, but be advised that until we solve the computation requirements, you may only operate it for a few minutes per usage."

"From what I heard about the speed, a few minutes are more than enough. Is there anything else you wish to tell us?" Red inquired.

"In fact there is, regarding your guest Miss Eri. She is to be considered at the moment a refugee of her war, but she definitely is not neutral either. As such she is to remain under your supervision until further notice. Her shuttle and its database will also be relocated to Utopia Planitia for study and further repair. It may be of some use to us. All of you are dismissed."

-AO-

"Sir! We are receiving an automated distress signal from the base!"

Ratula snapped up and walked over to the crewman.

"A distress call? What's going on down there? Prep the shuttles for emergency response! Crewman, hail the command center, try to find out what is going on!"

Jumping out of the trench and running up to the communications terminal, he waited as they tried to get contact. The hologram emitters quickly sprang to life as they began to project an image of the base interior.

"This is the ISD _Kairos_! Can anyone hear me? Please respo…" he trailed off as he watched an officer stumble into view, a look of fight in his eyes.

Everyone in view of the image watched as the man fell to the deck in a cold shiver, Ratula suddenly noticed large surfaces covered in ice in the background as well as what looked like...

'Bodies' he thought, looking at the scene before him. A large robed figure glided into view, reaching out for the trembling man.

"What is that thing?" Ratula shouted, watching as the figure gripped the sides of the officer's head.

"What thing…sir! How is that man floating?"

"Do you not see it? The thing that is holding him?" Ratula cried out, watching as the hooded head lowered, as if to kiss the man the being held.

"There is nothing there! It's just the officer!"

"You really don't see it?" he asked, looking at the creature.

Ratula and his crew watched as the man started to convulse wildly for a few moments before quickly going limp. The creature released its grip and the man dropped to the floor, still not moving. With its work seemingly done, the being glided out of sight.

"HELLO? HELLO! THIS IS CAPTAIN RATULA! PLEASE RESPOND!" He shouted, trying to wake up the people strewn across the base floor.

"Captain? What is happening?" a stormtrooper asked, before another shout rang out.

"Captain! A shuttle is lifting off the surface…it's Admiral Kalaghata!"

"WHAT? HAIL HIM NOW!"

A cold laugh spiked through the speaker as the image of the culprit showed up on the monitor, a mad grin plastered over the admiral's face.

"Well well well. If it isn't Ratula and the other traitors! Enjoying my little show down there?"

Ratula growled at the man.

"What is going on here Kalaghata? What was that thing and what did it do to our people?"

"Thing? You saw it?" The former admiral replied, slight surprise on his face.

"Yes, though it seems like I was the only one…"

A dark chuckle silenced him.

"So you can see my friends eh? You are just full of surprises…_captain_. The people down there aren't dead, but you would probably prefer if they were…"

"What did you do?" Ratula growled out.

"My friends have a little gift...as I assume that you have already witnessed. Unfortunately for me the remains aren't as dead as I would like. However, that can be remedied…3…2…1!"

Ratula watched in shock as a large flash of light erupted from the surface of the planet, a large smoking crater appearing where the base used to be.

"Don't you worry about my friend, there more than the one I left behind." Kalaghata said, showing no remorse at all for his former comrades.

Ratula watched as another hooded figure appeared from behind the man, a sickening gray hand reaching out from the darkness and settling on Kalaghata's shoulder. Smirking, he pulled out a small glass bottle and showed it to Ratula.

"I have gotten what I had come for so there is no need to remain here any longer…" he said, swirling around the silvery contents. "I am off to gather a bit more. That ship will be mine!

The channel closed and the shuttle picked up speed.

"Capture that shuttle! Bring that man to me!"

"Sir, our tractor beams are not taking any effect!"

"Then shoot him down! Destroy him!"

Turbolaser bolts shot out, the small shuttle lazily avoiding them as it sped further away from the planet. With a quick blast, the small shuttle accelerated and disappeared into hyperspace.

"Damn that man!" an angry Ratula yelled.

* * *

><p>Author's Notes: Next chapter will quickly jump to the POV of canon characters, meaning Luke Skywalker, Captain Picard and other famous people will get a quick spotlight. Will return to my OCs in the chapter after. Please Read and Review.<p> 


	15. Chapter 15

"Jean Luc!" Janeway perked up, watching as the ambassador walked into her office. "Good to see you again. Have a nice trip?"

Picard nodded, walking up to Janeway's replicator.

"Tea, Earl Grey, Hot."

A small porcelain cup appeared on the shelf. Grabbing it, Picard walked over to the chair in front of Janeway's desk and sat down. After taking a sip, he eyed Janeway's own mug.

"Kathryn, maybe you should stop drinking coffee and start having tea. You might be able to calm down a bit and get this work finished." He jokingly suggested, indicating the stacks of PADDs strewn over the desk. Janeway merely laughed and took a gulp of her coffee.

"Come on Jean Luc, what is the real reason you have come to visit me?" She asked, setting down her mug and putting on a serious expression. "I can't believe someone like you would come all the way from Vulcan to Earth just to criticize my drinking preferences."

Picard sipped a bit more tea before also setting it down on the desk. Rubbing his temples slightly, he glanced up at the vice admiral, taking in how much she has changed since her abrupt return to the Alpha Quadrant.

"Have you heard the rumors going around? Something about a wormhole?"

Janeway's eyes widened slightly before remembering who she was talking to.

"I'm not surprised that you would have heard about that. Starfleet Command wants to keep it a secret for as long as possible until we have a full analysis of the potential threat that the Empire poses."

Picard nodded.

"I haven't really heard the whole story Kathryn. Ever since I retired, news of Starfleet operations has become increasingly difficult to come by. I was only able to hear about it after the Vulcan Science Academy picked up some transmissions from the area."

"Transmissions? I never heard about any transmissions!"

"Not surprising, ever since the whole Hobus disaster and the red matter trials, the Academy has been getting more reclusive. They have some of the best equipment yet I'm getting concerned about if they might decide to fully isolate themselves from Starfleet."

Janeway slumped in her chair, staring blankly at her desk.

"The academy has a lot of influence on the Vulcan people." She commented. "If it isolates itself, it will be only a matter of time before Vulcan itself withdraws from the Federation. For a bunch of supposedly emotionally stable species, they are rather impulsive when it comes to accept the faults of their own society. This is bad Jean Luc."

"Please, Kathy. The Vulcans are the least of your problems." A disembodied voice said.

Picard growled as he recognized the voice and Janeway groaned. In a flash of light a man in a Starfleet admiral's uniform appeared from thin air. A slight smile on his face as he looked at the two.

"Jean Luc, wipe that scowl off your face, it doesn't really suit you." Q stated, watching the old man glaring at him.

"What do you want Q?" Janeway asked, rubbing her head to stem the upcoming headache.

"A warning to both of you…" Started the omnipotent being, suddenly becoming more serious.

"A warning? Have the Borg returned?" Picard asked, Janeway paling at the thought.

Q shook his head.

"No, a war is coming Jean Luc, Kathryn. A war against a force worse and more powerful than the Borg can ever be"

"Worse than the Borg? Don't tell me the Imperial Remnant is that dangerous!" Janeway shouted, still a bit pale.

Q looked at her in shock.

"Did you say Imperial Remnant? No, they aren't much of a threat…but for you to know their existence so early in this timeline….it seems the efforts are starting to pay off. However, I'm talking about a being so powerful, that even the Continuum has trouble fighting against him."

Both Janeway and Picard went considerably white at the statement.

"What can be so powerful as to threaten the Q?"

"Not only the Q, but the universe...actually all universes! The Continuum has been working since the beginning of time to protect against external influences on our realm, to the point that we had to sign the Great Accords with other races doing the same for their own. Unfortunately the civil war of one party has breached the treaty…"

"Other universes? Q, what are you going on about?"

"We are…"

"DAD!" A voice shouted and in a flash of light another young man appeared, wearing what looked like a soldier's uniform from the Second World War.

"What is it?" Q turned, forgetting to finish his statement.

"More attacks on the gateways! We had found several Links and are having trouble breaking them! Also Lady Tokimi needs your help dealing with some rogue Necromorphs found in the Warner-verse!"

"Understood! Tell the others to concentrate on clearing those chains! I'll go help Lady Tokimi. Sorry Jean Luc, Kathy, I'll come back to explain later. Just concentrate on the Imperials for now, but keep an eye out."

With a flash, both of the immortals disappeared, leaving Janeway and Picard confused in their wake.

-AO-

"Han! I need more cold water!"

"Coming Leia!"

Han Solo grabbed the dish of water and ran as fast as he could without spilling. Stepping through the doorway, he watched the scene before him. Leia sat at the side of the bed, mopping up the sweat of a delirious Luke Skywalker.

"Here's the water. How is his fever?"

Leia took the bowl and rinsed out the cloth she was holding before laying it atop her brother's forehead.

"Still very high. He is still mumbling incoherently."

Luke rolled over slightly, groaning in his sleep.

"…bewa…Bl…ng…demen…"

Leia shook her head and looked back up to Han.

"How are the others."

"Not too good either, but not as bad as him."

For the past few days, they had watched as Luke began to feel ill, mumbling something about a great disturbance in the Force. Other people who were also known to be Force sensitive began feeling sick as well. However Luke, the only known Jedi Master, collapsed in a heavy fit, with Leia worrying over him since then.

"What is going on?" Han asked, listening to Luke's labored breathing.

"I don't know…"

A growl was heard followed by several beeps.

"Will you two please be considerate? Master Luke is still bedridden!"

Han and Leia turned to see C3P-O, R2-D2 and Chewbacca waiting outside the door. Behind them, Admiral Ackbar waited patiently, watching the group.

"Admiral, what are you doing here?" Leia asked, surprised to see the Mon Calamari in their home.

Ackbar eyed the Jedi lying in bed before motioning R2-D2 to roll forward.

"We had recovered a message pod from orbit a few hours ago. I wanted your input on it."

R2-D2 played the message and the group minus Luke watched as a girl explained herself and her situation. The message ended with a file containing coordinates to the wormhole.

"If this girl is a Jedi like she said she was, how come she never came forth?" Han asked, just to get slapped on the head by Leia.

"Weren't you paying attention to any history course? The Empire wanted every Jedi dead! That was the reason why Luke and I were separated!" Leia explained before turning to Ackbar.

"What do you think? Should we contact this Federation?"

Ackbar looked at her and Han.

"I am concerned that this could be a trap, so I wanted you, Solo, to go there and confirm the contents of this message."

Han stuttered before looking up.

"Me? Why me?"

"Because the Falcon is one of the fastest ships we have and you have already proven yourself capable of slipping out of tight situations."

Han looked at Leia before taking in the coordinates that R2-D2 was showing them.

"This wormhole is in the Unknown Regions. We would have to be careful."

As the group discussed their plans, Luke groaned a bit more in his sleep.

"…Gallif…"

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><p>Author's Notes: And then we go back to my OC's. The story is picking up a bit more steam and complexity. You may be able to pick up my plot now, but don't go spoilering it for other readers now! (PM me instead if you feel the need to it shout out) Read and Review!<p> 


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: I own no franchises here nor do I claim such. I only own the original characters. This is done only for fun not for profit.

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><p><strong>Chapter 16:<strong>

Eri watched as two small tugs latched tractor beams onto the Arcana and pulled it through the spacedock doors. A tap on the shoulder made her turn to see almost everyone else standing behind her. A quick glance told her two people were missing.

"Where's lieutenant Ambrosio? And the doctor?"

"Ambrosio decided to spend time in the Midwest…something about nostalgia purposes." Red explained, leading them to a surface shuttle. "Horace is also going to visit Starfleet Medical. Both may join us later on this week."

The group settled down on a shuttle and sat chattering for a while through the trip to the surface. Doran glanced out a nearby window and started bouncing in his seat as he saw a group of islands appear before them.

"We are home! We are home! I can't wait to get to the beach because we are home!" He started singing, annoying the Jedi slightly as Haumea started joining in his song.

"What's with them?" Asked Eri, watching the two as they gushed about their plans for their impromptu vacation.

Red chuckled at their antics.

"We live in Hawaii, an island chain well known on Earth for its beaches. Doran has lived with us for a while now and had since become obsessed with swimming in the ocean every other day. My sister doesn't do anything to stop him though." He said affectionately.

Eri watched as Doran's hair slowly changed from pink to sandy gold. Though a bit confused, she just brushed it off and waited till the shuttle finally landed.

-AO-

Ambrosio walked down the street, watching the people go about their daily business. Finding a park, he sat down to watch some children play in the basketball court.

'So many memories." he thought, his mind drifting into sleep…

"_They're at it again." A young boy said, watching two other kids fighting on the side of the court. One child was holding the hat of the other child, teasing him about the giant afro it had concealed. The other was swearing loudly, trying to retrieve his hat back._

"_I'll break them apart. Why don't you go and make sure your sister doesn't get hurt."_

"_Whatever…" Ambrosio replied, his voice muffled by his parka. Passing the ball to the boy in the brown jacket, he walked to the side to comfort a small girl who seemed frightened at the fight going on._

"_Are you okay?" He asked, running his hand through his sister's brown hair. "I know you wanted to come today to escape mom and dad, but are you sure you want to stay and put up with that too?" He said, indicating the fight._

_The young girl just nodded before hugging him._

"_They aren't as bad…at least I have you…"_

The memory shifted, and now he was walking alongside a young Aka'ula. Both were still in their cadet uniforms as the academy had just closed for a winter recess.

"_So this was your childhood home?" He asked, looking around at the townspeople._

_Ambrosio nodded a bit before stopping in front of an elementary school._

"_There are several things different than I remember, but yes, this is where I grew up."_

_Aka'ula picked up a bit of snow and held it in his hand._

"_You know, being from a tropical island I never really seen snow before." He said, looking down into the white fluff in his hand._

_Noticing Ambrosio wasn't paying attention, he smirked and threw a snowball at him. The snowball smashed into the back of Ambrosio's head, making the blond fall face first into the snow bank. He laughed madly as another sailed past him in retaliation._

"_Kagami!" Ambrosio yelled, a face full of snow. "You'll pay for that later!"_

_Aka'ula reached down and pulled him up._

"_I know you don't like me calling you by you first name, but can you at least call me by mine?" He asked, still chuckling._

"_Your first name is too hard to pronounce." Ambrosio growled, brushing off the snow. "How about I call you 'Red' then? You did tell me that was part of your name's meaning…"_

_Aka'ula thought about it, rubbing his chin in a slightly dramatic way._

"_I like it. 'Red' it is…"_

A poke in his shoulder woke Ambrosio up. Rubbing his eyes, he looked up to see the person responsible.

"What do you want this time?"

-AO-

"Doctor Smith, are these all of the reports that you have for me?" The Surgeon General said, looking down at the PADD.

"Yes sir. If it is fine by you I would like to take my absence now."

The man took a quick look before nodding. However, just as Horace was about to exit, the voice called out.

"Although you may be excused from starship duty, I still want you to keep an eye on Captain Aka'ula Kagami, especially with these recent happenings in the Quadrant. We can't risk anything. Do I make myself clear?"

Horace froze for a moment before calming down and relying.

"Crystal."

-AO-

The house was rather big Eri thought, stepping through the foyer. Watching as Doran zoomed off to who knows where, she sighed and followed Haumea up the stairs to the guest room. She didn't have that much stuff, so after a quick inspection of the furnishings, she looked outside to see a garden in the back yard. Walking back down, she grabbed her shoes and opened the glass door from the kitchen.

"This is the same garden." She said to herself, walking in the same stone path and fountain that Red showed on the _Arcana_ tour. She sat down and looked around at the large home and garden, wondering how they could afford such luxury. She raised her eyebrow at a few statues in the back that weren't in the hologram simulation.

"Like my collection?"

The young Jedi jumped at the sound to see Haumea smiling, holding out a plate of sandwiches. Grabbing one, both strode over to inspect the stone figures.

"These weren't in the hologram your brother has." Eri stated, looking up at the winged figures.

Each of the statues had feathered wings, some were just sitting down playing with some sort of board game, others were holding out their hands as if to embrace. There was even one that looked like it was crying and covering its face with its hands.

"Not surprising there." Haumea replied, laughing a bit before taking a bite of her own sandwich. "I only bought these because Smith hated these statues for some reason. He even avoids the garden now when he comes to visit. I wouldn't put it past him to edit them out of my brother's holo-program."

"Why would he dislike them?"

Haumea just shrugged. Turning around, the girls walked back up the path, munching on the sandwiches.

Feeling the need to wipe her hands, Eri reached in to her pocket to find an extra cloth or something. Feeling a piece of paper, she pulled it out and examined it.

"Oh, I forgot about this!"

"Forgot about what?" Haumea asked, turning and seeing the small slip in Eri's hand.

"Some girl at Spacedock gave this to me. I can't read it. Can you?"

Haumea looked down at the small paper.

"It's a bit crumbled, but I can make out most of it. '_BEWARE THE **** ****!'_"

"I'm sorry? 'Beware the what'?"

Both girls frowned at the message.

"I don't know, the last two words are blurred out. Let's go show my brother, maybe he can figure it out."

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><p>Author's Notes: A bit short, but I am still on a role. A bit of backstory, a bit more plot. Writting still a bit bad but it gets the message across. Read &amp; Review.<p> 


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: I do not own any franchises that appear in this story. I only own any original character.

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><p><strong>Chapter 17<strong>:

Aka'ula felt oddly relaxed as he gazed at his reflection in the desk mirror. Strangely feeling the need to make sure that no one was with him, he glanced around his empty room before pulling out a small box from under his desk. He lifted the cover and lifted out a gold sash wrapped in a caring manner. Unwrapping it, a silver dagger fell out, shining innocently in the light of the window. The light held him in a trance as he absentmindedly reached for it. He held the knife in his hand, smiling in strange delight as he felt the cold metal under his fingers.

With one last look out the window, he watched as the girls examined Haumea's statues. He stared a bit too before his clock's chiming snapped him out of his trance. Gazing in fear at the dagger in his hand, he carefully wrapped the blade in the sash and placed it back in its hiding spot. Calming himself, he put his jacket back on and walked down the hall, knocking on Doran's door.

"Come in!" Came a muffled reply.

Carefully opening the door, the man avoided the stacks of books littering the floor. Looking up, Red shook his head at the overflowing bookshelves filled with even more manga. Every inch of wall was covered with posters of various fictional characters, the only available space taken up by a single large clock. Red turned to see his first officer already dressed down in a pair of swim trunks and a dark tank top; reading a magazine on the bed.

"You can't really expect to go to the beach today? It's almost dinner time." He explained, motioning to the clock.

The teen looked put out slightly after glancing at the clock.

"Wasn't really paying attention to the time. I guess I'll go tomorrow." He said in a disappointed manner.

Feeling sorry, Red looked down to see the magazine Doran was reading. Atop the page, it showed nothing but cakes and sweets. Chuckling, he looked back to the blond.

"I know you wanted to go swimming, but how about we all have some strawberry cheesecake after dinner. You and Haumea can bake it together."

The teen perked up instantly.

"Really?"

"Yes, I'll also bring out that dessert wine that you seem so partial to as well."

The man almost regretted it as Doran squealed loudly and dragged him down the stairs to the kitchen.

-AO-

Kalaghata grinned as his shuttle flew closer to the behemoth drifting in space. He took in the incomplete areas, mentally noting what needed to be rebuilt or completed in space dock. Touching down in the cavernous shuttle bay, he grabbed a space suit and stepped out.

Gliding across the room, he made it over to an access panel. Pressing a few buttons, the panel flickered back to life and the lights in the room snapped back on one at a time. The gravity still didn't restore itself completely but the satisfying hiss of pressurization told him that the life support systems still ran. Taking out a measurement tool, he waited until it was safe to remove his suit before removing his helmet.

"Looks like I have my work cut out for me." He told himself as he bounced out the room.

Slowly making his way to the bridge, he finally made it and observed the great length of the ship's nerve center. A quick check at one of the panels told him that there was just enough fuel to get him to the Kuat Yards. Glad that his preparations had not gone to waste, he sent out a message to an awaiting ISD.

-AO-

Eri shuddered. There was another Force ripple, not as powerful as the one a few days ago but noticeable none the less. Ignoring the fading tingling, she slid open the back door and allowed Haumea to enter before her.

"Are you okay?" She asked, noticing the slight grimace on the red head's face.

Eri looked up.

"I'm fine, just a bit hungry…the snack wasn't very filling." She lied.

Haumea raised an eyebrow but didn't comment. Turning back, she saw Doran piling ingredients on the counter as her brother dealt with a pot on the stove.

"Red? What are you cooking?"

The brunette gave a quick stir to the contents of the pot before turning to the girls.

"I just started a stew. I figured that we should have an actual home cooked meal instead of something replicated."

Haumea examined the ingredients that Doran was gathering.

"…and what are you doing? These aren't things that are put in a stew."

Doran just flashed a smile as he grabbed a tub of cream cheese.

"Don't worry Aunty Haumea, these are actually for dessert! I'm making cheesecake! Want to help me?"

The older woman smiled and nodded. Eri stood a bit confused, she had the feeling that they had forgotten something, but hard as she might, she couldn't recall it. The doorbell ringing suddenly caught her attention. Feeling a bit useless in the kitchen, she took it upon herself to answer it. Opening the door, she was mildly surprised to see Horace standing on the porch.

"Who is it?" Haumea asked, poking her head out from down the hall, whisking something in a bowl. Upon seeing the doctor, she merely rolled her eyes and withdrew.

"Tell that man that if he wants dinner he should come here and help my brother!" She called out.

Horace just placed his shoes on the rack next to the door and sighed.

"Shall we brave hell's kitchen together?"

Eri chuckled a bit.

-AO-

"For the last time! Will you all shut up?" Han scolded his companions, annoyed at the racket.

They had been sitting at the wormhole for several hours, wondering how to proceed. To their surprise, they had detected a Holonet relay beacon on the other side of the wormhole, albeit one with an imperial signature. According to R2, the beacon, despite its imperial identifiers, was programmed to accept all communications. C3PO on the other hand was ranting on the potential trap with Chewbacca whole heartedly agreeing. Han groaned at the immense noise and wished that Leia or even Ackbar could have come, but they had decided to stay on Coruscant to watch over Luke and the other ill people.

A message he received from Coruscant earlier didn't help the slight panic either. Most the spies from the Alliance in the various imperial factions had been silent for far too long and the area of space surrounding Kuat Drive Yards suddenly became inaccessible to almost every attempt of remote observation. Even ships sent to personally investigate suddenly went silent as they crossed a strange threshold surrounding the planet.

Han didn't understand what was going on. First the Luke and the Force sensitive personnel become incapacitated, then the spies now a whole planet. Something big was going on and he didn't like it. But first he had to deal with the noise.

"Can I just have some peace and quiet for just one minute? I am trying to…"

Han didn't finish his sentence as an Imperial Star Destroyer dropped out of hyperspace nearby.

-AO-

"Captain, a small craft is hovering near the wormhole. Scans show it is an YT-1300f light freighter….."

Ratula looked up at the designation. He had been sitting quietly wondering about the events for the past few days. The other factions were quickly getting silenced. Not to mention that he couldn't get near Kuat Yards anymore. He had no doubt that Kalaghata was somehow involved. He had tried to enter the space to do some repairs but as soon as he got near, the instruments began to act wildly and the outer armor began to fall apart. In a panic, he pulled away and was surprised as the immediate damage stopped. He then quickly high tailed it to the wormhole as his repair crews couldn't make heads or tails of the strange particles and radiation that were now coating his ship. Hopefully the Federation could lend a hand with their extensive sensor tech.

Ratula now focused on the current situation. Looking out the transparisteel windows, he knew there was no mistake. Out there was the infamous Han Solo's Millennium Falcon, the ship that led to the destruction of the Death Stars.

"Orders Captain?"

Thinking quickly, Ratula came to a conclusion.

"Hail them. If they respond, we'll tell them we are friendly. If they don't, ignore them and continue through the wormhole."

-AO-

"Master Solo, they are attempting to hail us." C3PO cried out in concern.

Han motioned the protocol droid to connect, but was surprised at the message the imperial captain gave him.

"Greetings Captain Solo! This is Captain Ratula of the ISD _Kairos_. It seems that Madam Eri's message has made it safely to you. We are about to enter the wormhole and re-establish communication with the Federation. If you wish, you may follow us through. If not, you are more than welcome to transmit via the relay beacon we had placed on the other side. _Kairos_ out."

The former smuggler was speechless. He sat there staring at the communication terminal for several minutes, not noticing the ISD repowering up its engines and entering the wormhole. A growl from a worried wookie and a poke on the shoulder snapped him back to reality.

"Dear me! Master Solo, are you okay?" A terrified C3PO asked. Several beeps from R2 punctuated the tension in the air.

Han blinked and cried out.

"How did he know it was us...but more importantly…did that _Imperial_ captain speak kindly?"

* * *

><p>Authors Notes: Sorry that I didn't update in a while. I had an unexpected hospitalization and I couldn't access the internet during the recovery period.<p>

As for my story, sorry as well for the constant POV shifts but almost every other thing are becoming plot points / characterization and I need to get most them across before the first battle (it will be coming in a few more chapters). Please REVIEW, I could do with some feedback on how consistent my general canon continuity and internal continuity is at the moment.


	18. Chapter 18

New Chapter: Begin here

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><p><strong>Chapter 18<strong>

"Captain Ratula, no one is responding to our hails. I think that our range is still too short in this galaxy."

Ratula sat next to the crewman overlooking the sensor readouts. The Holonet beacon was strong enough to push communications back through the wormhole, but it was near useless on the Federation's side of the wormhole. The subspace layer was so distorted that the beacon only helped boost their signal a few light years. Although they could pick up communications that were definitely Starfleet in origin, their own messages were too weak themselves to allow stable contact.

The _Kairos_ needed some serious repair by now. The strange radiation was slowly eating away at his armor and if he didn't get in contact with someone in the next few hours, it could breach the hull. In an attempt to get someone's attention, he tried to send out hyperdrive capable probes to carry his message. Half were been destroyed in the initial attempts at a hyper-jump, some were able to jump but for only a couple of light years. The remaining couple of probes just somehow disappeared into subspace.

'The Federation has had to live with this heavy subspace damage for its entire existence.' He thought, annoyed at his situation. 'It is reasonable they had to develop strong equipment just to do basic space faring.' He told himself, wishing that a Starfleet ship would make contact.

"What is the status of Captain Solo and the _Millennium Falcon_?"

"They have not come through the wormhole yet sir…we are receiving a transmission from one of the missing probes!"

"A probe?" repeated Ratula, surprise on his face as he looked over the readings. "Look at the subspace com traffic! According this, the probe is picking up broadcasts from Earth! The Federation's core world is just a short distance away from the probe!"

The crewman looked up at him.

"The probe's logs state it traveled through some type of subspace tunnel."

A somewhat anxious Ratula was thinking quickly.

"The other probes may have disappeared along other similar paths. If so, this could be some interconnected network, like our galaxy's! We could quickly get around if we get the readings from the other launched probes…is the corridor stable enough to hold our ship?"

"We believe so…but from what we can tell, there are no ships in range of the _Kairo's_ or the probes scans that were using the tunnel. Maybe there is something wrong with it?"

Another alarm blared up. The radiation had breached a small part of the hull and a few crew evacuated the depressurizing section. Grimly looking at the damage, the imperial captain gave his order.

"I am willing to take a risk. Prep the hyperdrive and follow the exact course the probe took."

The Star Destroyer powered up and quickly entered the corridor, not knowing of the small craft that exited the wormhole just after.

-AO-

Earlier on the other side of the wormhole, Han was reporting to Ackbar.

"Solo, are you certain?"

Ackbar was feeling very hesitant. The fact that an Imperial warship acted with a gesture of goodwill was exceedingly rare, especially in the current turmoil.

"Yes admiral. This captain even proposed following him through the wormhole."

"I am not sure why this is so. I will have a cruiser rerouted to meet you. Both ships shall rendezvous and enter the wormhole together. Try to see if you can contact this Federation. If not, pull back as soon as possible. Our reports say that the few surviving imperial sects are getting anxious about the Kuat Yards situation. They already have several Destroyers stationed in the area and more en route. We need as much support as we can if even our enemies are worried."

Han looked up as his companions fidgeted in the background.

"Hold on, did you say that the Imps are scared of something?"

Ackbar's hologram nodded, a slightly grim expression on the blue-grey holographic face.

"We believe they know something but like us are also unable to take any real action. For them to be scared enough to send in half their fleet it has to be really big. We can definitely tell there is no death star being built, but we think it is some type of powerful ship. If whatever it is launches, I am afraid that we may have another Endor on our hands."

Han acknowledged and asked for Ackbar to watch Luke and Leia while he was gone. As the projector shut down and the Falcon entered the vortex, C3PO voiced his concern again.

"Captain, the likelihood of there even being an actual Federation let alone contacting them is…"

"SHUT UP!"

-AO-

A pouting Doran was sitting next between Haumea and Horace, the latter of which was ignoring the pokes into his arm from the annoyed teen. The group had received a priority summons that morning and so was waiting at the offices on Spacedock for the last person of their group, Ambrosio, to join. Across them, Red was gently trying to wake up a sleeping Eri, who in her grogginess had decided to use his lap as a pillow, trying to cuddle his thigh as if it were a stuffed animal.

"So why did she stay up all night again?" Haumea asked, paying no attention to the increasing growls of irritation at her side.

Aka'ula looked up, gently keeping Eri's hands from hugging him tightly.

"Ms Eri apparently wanted to try and learn the English language. She thought that because of her 'force' abilities, she could learn quickly." He said with a slight strain as the girl shifted uncomfortably.

"Poor thing, she has more to learn than anyone can handle…empathic powers or not."

Haumea turned to her side to look at Doran who increased his poking war on Horace's arm. As much as she enjoyed any moment where the doctor was in some form of pain, she was starting to get irritated at his growls and grunts.

"Doran-chan, I'm sorry that you couldn't go swimming today. Listen, as soon as this meeting is over we can all go to the beach, including the grouchy old medical officer. Now be a good boy and stop poking him okay? It's giving Aunty Haumea a headache."

The teen gave her puppy dog eyes for a moment before giving a slight smile and putting his hands in his lap to stare at the designs on the deck flooring. The doctor, though somewhat glad at the momentary relief, still rubbed his shoulder.

"It was giving _you_ a headache? And who are you calling old? I may be over two hundred Terran years old but for my species that's the equivalent of a grade school student!"

Haumea just rolled her eyes in sarcasm, ready to start their traditional arguments.

"Seeing as how you've never enlightened us at all during you years in Starfleet, may I ask what species exactly are you? Doctor 'my species lives incredibly long'?"

The doctor turned red and swung to show his back to her.

"I will not give them the dignity of their name; they don't even deserve the titles they gave themselves. I am glad they are gone and good riddance. I no longer like them and they did not like me at the end. End of conversation."

Before Haumea could respond, Doran bounced out of his seat and began waving his arms in the air.

"Fintan-nii! Fintan-nii! We are over here!"

The group turned to see the man walking down the hall, a slight lethargic look on his face. Just as he pulled up to them, the doors to the office they were waiting in front of opened to reveal a blond woman. The metal piece above her eye rose along with her eyebrows as she took in the waiting people.

"Admiral Janeway is ready for you, you may enter."


	19. Chapter 19

*Please read chapter 18 first*

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><p><strong>Chapter 19<strong>:

Janeway looked up to watch as Seven led the group into her office. The young red headed woman with them was rubbing her eyes and yawning, being supported by Captain Aka'ula. Commander Doran was looking around the room in vague interest as Captain Haumea and Doctor Smith sat calmly waiting for the meeting to begin.

"Welcome. I'm sorry that I had called you all in but this is very important. As you know, the _Arcana_ is currently at Mars being repaired and upgraded per my orders. However, as the spacedock crews uploaded your databanks for the usual maintenance and record-keeping, we found a very peculiar program hidden in the computer."

"Wait what?" Red sat up, sitting up straight and focusing his attention on the admiral.

"There was a hidden program in my ship's computer?"

Janeway nodded and turned to Seven to let her explain. However, the former Borg was not paying attention. Seven and Ambrosio were watching each other with slight apprehension, as if daring the other was to make a move.

"Seven? Do you have a personal history with this man?" She asked, watching the tense staring contest.

Seven shook her head but didn't lower her guard.

"This is the first time we have met...in person at least. But I do not feel at liberty to discuss this right now."

Seven turned to bring up a display on the screen, numbers and letters cascaded across the glass as Seven spoke up.

"These are the normal operating protocols that Starfleet ships use in their computer systems. They normally cover the LCARS and engineering commands needed for shipboard operation. However…."

Seven scrolled the page faster down and highlighted a block of text.

"…these are a series of commands that were to discretely hide certain file data."

"Excuse me…" Eri spoke up, finally aware what was going on. "I know that this is important and everything, but may I ask why I am here? I am not really a part of your Starfleet."

Haumea spoke up as well in agreement.

"I agree Admiral Janeway. The _Arcana_ is my brother's jurisdiction. Why is it that myself and Ms Eri are here? And why is it that his Chief Engineer isn't here then as well?"

A raised palm silenced her. Janeway nodded to Seven, who pushed several buttons. On the screen a multitude of words began popping in and out of the sea of glyphs.

_Time…Door…Magic...War…Eclipse…Links…Key …Trope…Cube…_

_Glass…Seed…Neverwere…Death…Truth…_

Words flashed one by one as they appeared and disappeared into the background. Seven took another glance at the words before shutting off the screen.

"The program had hidden several files and had seemed to destroy them as we attempted access. We have only been able to recover a few hundred words and phrases, yet it is difficult to determine a correlation between them. Surprisingly your names have turned up in our search…only your names."

Janeway stood up and handed a PADD to Haumea, who browsed through the display.

"Yes, our names are all here…including Captain Ratula and Admiral Kalaghata!" She exclaimed, passing it to the others.

"Yes…" Janeway commented, allowing the group to take a look at their names, "however, one phrase keeps popping up in particular throughout the sequences, yet no matter how hard we try, we can't decrypt the last words: [ _BEWARE THE **** ****! _]_"_

Eri, who was holding the PADD in an attempt to read the English lettering, dropped it in surprise. Suddenly a strange ripple passed through the room as images flew threw her mind…

_An immense starship shaped like a dagger fired a great beam of light….a fleet of cube shaped ships was destroying all in their path and each other…a immense metal figure rampaged through a city as a small blue box chased after a shuttle…a man in immaculate robes was watching as the stars flashed and faded one by one, the staff that he held glowing brighter with each disappearance…_

"Ms Eri! Ms Eri wake up! Medical emergency in conference room seven!"

-AO-

Eri groaned as she heard a weird chirping noise. Opening her eyes, she watched as Horace ran a tricorder around her head. She swatted the hand away and sat up, noticing most of the group watching her in worry.

"Ms Eri? Are you feeling well?" Admiral Janeway asked, taking the tricorder from Horace and reading the display. "Captain Aka'ula told me you were up all night studying. Maybe you should get some more rest."

"I'll be fine, just a headache."

The Jedi sat for a minute as the spinning stopped. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Ambrosio and the strange woman resuming their earlier staring contest. A klaxon began blaring moments later, and they could hear people rushing in the corridor outside. Eri rubbed her head as Haumea came to steady her. Janeway quickly stood up and went over to a monitor.

"Admiral Janeway to Ops Center, what is going on out there?"

The reply was prompt and got everyone's attention.

"Admiral Janeway! The transwarp conduit you used to return years ago is reopening. A probe was detected but somehow disintegrated a few minutes after detection. Subsequent long distance scans detected a massive ship headed our way through the conduit! Admiral Paris has already ordered a fleet wide alert!"

The group paled with the exception of Eri, who was looking at them in confusion. She could feel the fear permeating the entire base, the Force telling her that something was not right.

"What is going on? Is it one of your enemies?"

A white Janeway nodded slightly.

"It looks like the Borg have returned."

-AO-

The group found themselves aboard the _Thunder Child_'s bridge near the exit of the Borg corridor. As the Arcana was unable to move due to the upgrading, everyone had done a temporary transfer to Haumea's ship. Eri watched on the viewscreen at the large number of ships that were jumping out of warp nearby, taking up defensive positions. Meanwhile, Admiral Janeway and Seven were discussing with Captains Haumea and Aka'ula on the situation.

"The vessel will leave the conduit in about ten minutes. We will begin firing the moment that the Borg exit."

"This ship was one of the vessels that were there during the second Borg invasion of Earth." Haumea commented, looking around the bridge. "How fitting that she is fighting them again."

Aka'ula, however, was emotionless, running his hand across the display.

"I thought the conduits were destroyed Admiral, how did the Borg recover so quickly?"

Seven shook her head.

"The Borg laid the conduits following naturally occurring subspace corridors. We were only able to destroy the transwarp support structures, not the underlying network. However, it would take a very powerful warp field to even breach the corridors let alone use them. If indeed the Borg have recovered, they would be the few known species capable of utilizing them."

A quick glance at the sensor readings interrupted their briefing. Haumea took up her seat and ordered her crewman to hail the fleet. Janeway spoke up immediately.

"This is Admiral Janeway to all vessels. The moment the Borg exit, fire at will."

Eri, taking up a position near the chart table, took a look at the displayed information.

"Hold on a moment," She started to shout, taking in the readings before her. "These look similar to Hyperspace lanes!"

The Starfleet officers looked up at her, Red and Haumea thinking quickly.

"Hyperspace lanes?" Red and Haumea looked at each other, a worse feeling of dread coming over them. "You don't think….?"

Suddenly a firefight rang out across the viewscreen as nearly twenty vessels began firing at the starship that came through the corridor.

Haumea acted quickly, trying to order the fleet to stand down. A strong hail quickly pierced through the channel, a frantic voice shouting out amidst the background chaos.

"THIS IS CAPTAIN RATULA OF THE ISD _KAIROS_! WE SURRENDER! WE SURRENDER! STOP FIRING!"


	20. Chapter 20

*Please read chapters 18 & 19 first*

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the original characters.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 20:<strong>

Ratula jumped out of the way as a support beam fell and crashed into the gallery. Crewmembers and soldiers were running around and screaming orders as a sudden barrage of unknown origin began raining down upon the destroyer the moment that they exited the corridor. Already damaged from the strange radiation and weakened from the rough transit through the corridor, they had no time to raise their combat shields or power weapons to counter. Ratula braved the sparks and burning debris to find a working communication console. Finding one, he poured as much energy as he could into the carrier waves.

"THIS IS CAPTAIN RATULA OF THE ISD _KAIROS_! WE SURRENDER! WE SURRENDER! STOP FIRING!"

It took a few moments before the last ship stopped attacking. Breathing a sigh of relief, he answered the hail from the _Thunder Child_. On the screen was a relatively young woman standing in the middle of a starship bridge. In the background, he could see Eri and the others. The standing woman, whose uniform was slightly different than the others, addressed him.

"This is Admiral Janeway of the United Federation of Planets, Starfleet Command. Sorry for the attack, we had believed that you were a scout from one of our worst enemies. We are terribly sorry for any and all loses that we have caused."

Ratula looked through the reports coming in from his agitated crew. He couldn't see through the helmet of the soldier next to him, but he had a feeling that there was a sarcastic grimace in his face judging from his posture. Ignoring it, he returned to the woman waiting for his reply.

"Fortunately we haven't had any fatalities. However, we have heavy casualties and hull breaches. We would like some medical and engineering crews to assist."

"Understood. Stand by."

-AO-

_Captain's Log Supplemental_

_The extensive damage on the _Kairos_ would normally require months in a space dock. However, the vessel is too large to be towed by our own ships. Instead, repairs are being done in space close to the subspace corridor by teams from both galaxies and injuries are being taken care of by Starfleet staff. In the meantime, there seem to be more urgent matters…_

"So no one from your galaxy can reach this shipyard?" Admiral Janeway asked.

The group was gathered around the conference table, a hologram of Kuat Yards (courtesy of Ratula) floating above their heads. Eri was quietly sitting on the side, having earlier shouted that it could have potentially been a trap. After being scolded by Janeway herself, she resigned to watch Ratula apprehensively.

"The Kuat Yards were Imperial property for years. Now there seems to be a strange energy field surrounding the planet preventing us from getting close. Any ship that gets near starts disintegrating at a rapid rate. As you can see from the _Kairos_, this field left strange particles and radiation that continues to degrade our armor."

Ambrosio, who was silent for a while as he was reading the sensor data, sat up and immediately the room's attention fell to him.

"Admiral, this latest report about the radiation indicates that it is chroniton based."

"Chronitons?" Haumea repeated, looking out the window to the large destroyer in the distance. Shuttles were buzzing around it like bees as workers were attempting to repair the large ship.

Eri, tired of the technical terms that the Starfleet officers were fond of, immediately stopped the discussions.

"Someone explain what these 'chronitons' are before we continue further." She asked, still keeping her eyes trained on Ratula. Her inner suspicions that it was some elaborate plot deflated slightly when she sensed that he was as confused as she was.

"I agree. I have never heard of these 'chronitons' before."

Ambrosio, instead of his usual cold grimace, faltered slightly as he saw Eri's confused face. A ghost of a memory flashed in his mind before he composed himself, hoping no one noticed his momentary weakness.

"Chronitons are particles known to control time itself. From what our sensors show, the _Kairos_ is not so much disintegrating as it is aging quickly. The ship's armor is actually in a state of rapid decay. Based on this, it seems that the energy field surrounding the Kuat Yards is actually a bubble of accelerated time."

Ratula, taking in the strange information, needed clarification.

"So are you saying that time in the shipyard is actually moving faster than the rest of the universe?"

Seven nodded.

"The data does suggest a temporal field of incredible power. However, you and Miss Eri both have never heard of chronitons before. Have either of you heard of experiments of temporal mechanics conducted in your galaxy? Especially in the region surrounding this planet?"

Eri shuddered at the technobabble as Ratula shrugged.

"Miss Seven of Nine, the closest thing possible to time based technology is the stasis field we project around our ships when at hyperspeed. It keeps us in sync with the rest of the galaxy during travel in hyperspace. However, we have never been able to utilize it to manipulate the passage of time in real space."

"Then you have no logical reason as to why a temporal field is now around your shipyard then?"

"I can't think of a reason as to…..the ship!"

Admiral Janeway and Seven looked at him inquisitively as Eri exchanged looks with Aka'ula. Haumea noticed the glance and hounded on the three.

"May one of you please share with us? What 'ship' is he talking about? The _Kairos_?"

Eri looked again at Ratula, glaring at him as she answered.

"No, not his destroyer. Ratula told us about it aboard the _Arcana_. Apparently the Galactic Empire was attempting to build some sort of secret ship before we destabilized their government..."

Eri quickly turned on Ratula, glaring him down as she jumped onto the table reached to her belt.

"Are you telling me that this ship is some sort of secret time machine? Something to help you travel back in time to stop the Rebellion from even existing?"

Janeway stood up.

"Miss Eri! Calm down!"

Eri shrugged off the admiral's arm, activating her lightsaber and in the process tripping an alarm from the ship's sensors. Ignoring the klaxon, she pointed the glowing tip at Ratula, who stumbled out of his chair in surprise. The Starfleet security already in the room had their phasers trained on her, yet she ignored them in favor of the Imperial captain.

"Tell me now. Is that why I have been feeling these strange ripples in the Force? Strange visions ships and machines I have never seen before? Is the Force trying to tell me that something is wrong with time? ANSWER ME!"

Janeway, feeling the situation was about to get worse, motioned the security officers to fire. Eri groaned and collapsed as two beams hit her in the back. The unconscious Jedi slumped on the tabletop, her red hair sprayed out wildly. The lightsaber fizzed out and landed with a thud at Ambrosio's foot, who gingerly picked it up and watched as the girl was taken to the _Thunder Child_'s brig.

"Is he okay?" Janeway asked as the commotion died in the room.

Ambrosio, pocketing the sword, looked around to see the group huddled around Doran. The commander was shivering in a fetal position, blankly staring at the table where Eri had been a few moments ago.

"No….I d-don't know where it is…p-please don't hurt me!"

* * *

><p>Author's Notes: SORRY! My schedule was quickly changed and my internship was moved to the beginning of summer. Here are the three chapters that I had originally had ready, they are short but very important. I will upload more later on. Thank you for your patience and consideration. Please Review. I can always use some feedback.<p> 


	21. WARNING! READ THIS BEFORE CONTINUING!

WARNING!

The story will start getting progressively darker from this point forward. Controversial things may occur and I do not want to be criticized too harshly for anything that will be uncomfortable. If you do not like, do not continue reading.

For those who wish to continue, I am going to remain hopefully around a T-rating. Updating will be very slow to accommodate my work schedule. On a plus note, I am taking a slightly new approach to this story and now ask for any ideas that you may consider interesting for the AO saga. If I think that your suggestion doesn't conflict with my planned plot, I may add it. It may not necessarily be in the main trilogy, but just PM me. If I like what I hear, I may even give you a sneak peak at the appropriate plot location so long as you keep the spoiler to yourself.

~NEX


	22. Chapter 21

Disclaimer: I own nothing except plot and original characters. All other elements copyrighted to their respective owners.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 21<strong>

Doran cowered and mumbled to himself, rocking slightly as the group tried to snap him out of it.

"I don't know, please let me go. I don't want to be here!"

Haumea was worried, reaching down to hug the teen. The blond didn't respond to the motion, but as he looked up, a look of terror spread across his face as he noticed Aka'ula. Freaking out, he stumbled backwards out of Haumea's embrace and pressed himself against the bulkhead in an attempt to get as much distance between him and the captain. Janeway, noticing this, turned to Red. The man merely stood there, no trace of emotion on his face.

"Captain Kagami, I must ask you to leave, _quickly._"

He merely nodded, addressing Horace before he left.

"I am going to join Ms Eri in the brig just as a precaution. Do what you must."

The doctor opened his mouth to say something, but stopped and nodded instead as the officer exited the room. Ratula raised an eyebrow and approached Janeway, who was still attempting to calm down the hysterical commander.

"Admiral? Forgive me, but may I ask what is happening?"

His question was unanswered as Horace stepped in and relieved the admiral, stooping down to take a look at commander. The group watched in fascination as the boy immediately calmed down the moment he noticed the doctor's presence before falling asleep. Horace picked him carefully and addressed the people in the room.

"It looks like Ms Eri's outburst triggered the memories of the rescue mission. It looks like he just fainted from the stress. I am going to bring him to sickbay for observation. Ambrosio, please assist me."

The security officer followed as Horace carried the unconscious officer out of the room, leaving Ratula to ask his question again.

"May I ask what just happened?"

Janeway looked at the somewhat distraught Haumea, who nodded. Permission granted, Janeway picked up an overturned chair and sat down at the table, rubbing her temples.

"It all started several years ago…"

-AO-

Some distance away, a Starfleet shuttle dropped out of warp, yet the captain was no Starfleet officer. He was a Cardassian fugitive, recently escaping from a Federation penal colony where he was imprisoned for war crimes from the Dominion War. Now he was on the run, having taken this shuttle and he needed something to delay his capture. Looking up, he saw that something in the distance…

Near the wormhole, the _Millennium Falcon_ waited. Wondering why no one was answering his hails, Han was getting restless. It did not help that his companions were still incredibly noisy. They had attempted a blind jump after their cruiser escort had not shown up, but it merely resulted in a very bad tumble and a partially damaged engine.

"What is going on here? What the hell is wrong with this thing? Chewie, open the engine hatch, I want to…" Han was interrupted as a strange orange shuttle pulled up near the Falcon. R2 trilled as a strange grey skinned alien showed up over the holo-projector. The alien began speaking in a strange language, Chewie growling as the alien's language started shifting into basic.

"…so after a bright blue flash of light, I found myself free and was able to commandeer this shuttle. I now ask if I may come aboard." The strange grey scaled man asked, waiting patiently with a strangely uncomfortable smile. Han exchanged glances with Chewie before returning back to the screen.

"May I ask what is your intention for coming aboard the Falcon? You said that you are now 'free,' but from what?"

The Cardassian checked the shuttle's sensors, seeing that the nearest Federation ship in pursuit was still an hour away, he knew he didn't have any time to spare.

"I just escaped a Federation penal colony and I need asylum before Starfleet finds me."

"Federation, as in the United Federation of Planets? We are here to contact them on behalf of our Republic. We received a message from one of our citizens that these are helpful people, I don't think that it would be good for us if we decided to help one of their prisoners before consulting them."

The Cardassian inwardly felt more optimistic. Judging by the man's words, their 'Republic' hasn't yet contacted the Federation. If he plays his cards right and this Republic is strong enough, he might be able to get them to seriously harm the Federation blight of the galaxy. First he needed more evidence.

"Captain, how powerful is your Republic? You should be cautious when you are dealing with the Federation. They may seem friendly, but they are monsters."

Han felt a bit wary, he knew that he shouldn't be consulting with a prisoner of a foreign government, but since he also didn't know what the man was imprisoned for. The only testimony so far was the Federation helping some young girl against an ISD. For all he knew, it could be another bully just protecting its territory.

"You could come aboard, but do you know of a planet to land on? It looks like our docking ports are incompati…"

Han couldn't believe his eyes as the alien suddenly appeared in a shower of lights. The man seemed unfazed by his unorthodox way of entry, just inspecting his surroundings with mild interest.

"Impressive cockpit, if a bit outdated." The man stated, inspecting the control console, giggling to himself. "Levers? How quaint. Never developed touch screen interfaces?"

Han and Chewie felt offended, Han reaching his hand out to pull the taller alien around.

"Never criticize the Falcon when I am around!" Han growled at the man, resisting the urge to punch the daylights out of him.

The Cardassian just laughed and pulled out a small PADD.

"You really think you can trust the Federation? HA! I am a prisoner because of a war they instigated with one of my home planet's former allies. They invaded their space and once nearly caused the destruction of our fleets as they took over one of our key space stations."

Han watched the small video screen as it showed footage of a Federation task force breaking through a Cardassian blockade, followed a small brick-like ship orbiting a wheel-like station. The destruction that he could see was horrendous, yet he wasn't totally convinced.

"I kind of feel for your losses, but how do they act when not at war?"

A small chirp from the arrowhead-shaped badge the Cardassian wore echoed in the cramped cabin. The Cardassian looked at the stolen badge and smirked, glancing back up to the view port.

"I guess you are about to find out personally…"

Han, confused, turned around to see a Starfleet vessel pop out of nowhere and lock a tractor beam onto the shuttle. A strange language suddenly rang out through the communications speakers, the speaker definitely sounding like he was in authority.

["This is the USS _Rhode Island_ to unknown vessel. You are harboring a dangerous war-criminal. We strongly urge you to return him to our custody. We do not want anyone to get hurt."]

The Cardassian laughed, though out of the corner of his eye he could see that these people did not understand the Starfleet Captain.

"Excuse me sir, could you translate that message?" A nervous C3P0 finally spoke up.

"They told us to surrender or be destroyed." The Cardassian replied, his back facing them to hide the malicious smirk on his face.

* * *

><p>AN: And thus I am able to push out a small chapter. I didn't abandon this just yet! Not sure if I will have the Cardassian as a major character right now, but I am open to names and what crime(s) he could have commited to try and prove me otherwise!


	23. Chapter 22

Disclaimer: I own nothing but original characters. Everything else belongs to their respective owners

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 22:<strong>

The captain of the _Rhode Island_ did not know what was going on. A few moments after they resynchronized with the shuttle computer, almost all the bridge consoles stopped responding. He watched the bridge and engineering crews were frantically looking around for solutions, but then suddenly turned to his first officer.

"Commander, what exactly was the fugitive incarcerated for?"

The man looked up from where he was assisting a crewman then reviewed an unaffected PADD.

"The Cardassian prisoner according to his file was a skilled technician who was creating a program that could..." the commander trailed off and the captain felt a wave of dread as the officer stared wide eyed at him. "…take over a ship's offensive systems and fire on friendly vessels"

Suddenly the crew was thrown off their footing as the ship began accelerating toward the alien ship. The helpless crew could only watch as a phaser beam shot out across the distance.

-AO-

Han was sweating as he willed the Falcon to try and dodge another attack. Alarms were blaring everywhere and smoke was pouring into the cabin as the old freighter rocked under a torpedo blast.

"Damn it! How the hell can they still hit us?!"

The ex-smuggler was at a lost. His ship was among the fastest and most nimble in the galaxy, rivaling even smaller star fighters. Very rarely did capital ships even score more than a few hits yet almost every other beam and warhead the Federation ship fired struck without flaw. It was even worse since the damn weapons ignored his shielding and struck against the hull armor instead. If it weren't for their high speed, the Falcon would have gotten the full brunt of each impact. Just barely minutes into the fight he had to be defensive as both his main guns were too damaged to retaliate, leaving Chewie with nothing to do but keep the droids from freaking out to badly.

"I knew it! It was a ploy! These Federation guys are barbarians!" Han cried, too focused on evasion to notice the smirk on the Cardassian. "Where the heck is that cruiser escort!"

Chewie growled but could not do anything as the grey alien found an escape pod and jettisoned, abandoning the freighter to and its crew to their doom. Han, pulling the _Falcon_ around in a tight corkscrew, just grit his teeth as the pod was quickly incinerated by a stray phaser bolt.

"Serves the man right to jettison in a battle." He criticized, the Falcon spinning again as a phaser beam slammed into his port side.

"NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!" Han began screaming, the controls starting to become sluggish.

The _Falcon_ was starting to twist out of control, the ion engines sputtering in and out of life. Han, kicking the bulkhead in anger, felt somewhat relieved as a large Mon Calamari Cruiser flew out of the wormhole just as all hope seemed lost. A few moments later the vessel had the attention of the Federation starship, giving Han and Chewie enough time to assess the damage...

-AO-

The _Rhode Island_ crew was stunned and watched the carnage unfurl before them. The little alien ship put up a valiant fight, attempting dodge their strikes as much as possible. Had the situation been different, the captain could have been very impressed at the ship's speed and maneuverability and would have jumped at the chance to talk with its crew, but knew it was the only thing preventing his hijacked starship from utterly destroying them.

"Report! Has anyone been able to get control or transmit a message?!"

"No sir! Commands are still not functioning and external communications still down!"

The captain slumped in his chair, staring blankly at the viewscreen. He couldn't believe it. What would have been a simple capture and arrest became a first contact situation gone horribly wrong. Without communications, he had no ability to contact the other vessel and explain his situation, or even Starfleet for assistance. From the alien's perspective, he probably just made the Federation look like some evil empire or hostile race and could do nothing about it. How would he even live with this guilt should they find a way to get control? The ramifications were too grim to think about.

"Captain, another vessel has appeared. They are attempting to hail us!"

The distraught man only looked up, the situation going from horrible to catastrophic. The alien vessel stopped its hails as the _Rhode Island_ locked onto the newcomer, torpedoes and phaser beams lancing out and showering the huge vessel in explosions. In retaliation, the alien vessel fired back with tremendous force. The Starfleet vessel was still acting of its own accord, dodging most of the attack with several quick maneuvers. However, some lucky turbolaser bolts still struck the small ship. The shields flared and weakened, the crew tossed about like rag dolls from the immense kinetic energy.

"Shields down to 42% and dropping!" A crewman cried out, the helpless people still trying to take back their systems. The chief engineer was screaming over the internal communications, stating something about how the program was adapting against their attempts to purge the computer. The captain, dodging a plasma burst from a ruptured bulkhead, looked down to see their progress. They were gaining the non-essential systems back, but more important ones such as weapons and communications were still locked out. A small beep caught his attention as more systems were taken under control. He now had the ability to download the logs and jettison a buoy. Thinking quickly, he punched in the commands to do so, the process taking only a minute and he felt relieved as he saw the capsule shoot out away from the battle. Another beep and seeing the display, he knew exactly what should be done by this point.

"Computer, initiate emergency self-destruct sequence. Immediate activation, no countdown. Authorization…"

-AO-

The _Rhode Island_ exploded in a spectacular pyrotechnic display as internal containment systems fell and anti-matter met normal matter. The Mon Calamari cruiser, having only been in the fight for a few minutes and thus still had relatively strong shielding and armor, shrugged off most of the shockwave and debris, but the _Millennium Falcon_ was not so lucky.

Han and Chewie shielded their eyes as a bright light enveloped the freighter, everyone slamming to the side as she tumbled out of control. The large wookie, having held down R2-D2 and C3PO, was knocked unconscious when the two fell on top him. As the light faded, a metallic groan and a cracking noise got Han's attention. He watched in horror as the cockpit screen began to crack, little fissures splintering across the surface. Looking down at his unconscious partner of many years, he was glad that Chewie wouldn't see it coming.

"I'm sorry guys, looks like it is my time…Leia" He spoke to his distant friends, a single tear rolling down his face as a loud crack resounded followed by blissful darkness.

* * *

><p>AN: *prepares to dodge blaster bolts from enraged fans* Okay guys, sorry for Han Solo and Chewbacca's ultimate fate *moment of respectful silence*, but I needed something to truly horrific to cement the misunderstanding and push the plot forward. I did warn that things may not go how you would like it, but if you are still going to press on, please REVIEW. Next chapter (whenever that will be uploaded) is about the GFFA reaction and some unfortunate decisions to be made.


	24. Chapter 23

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the original characters.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 23:<strong>

Ratula did not know what to say. Admiral Janeway was silent, a mug of lukewarm replicated coffee in her hand. Captain Haumea on the other hand occasionally sniffled as she sat at the end of the table with her head down.

"So all this time..." He began, processing what he heard. "...he seems so collected. You would never guess."

Haumea shook her head.

"No, in fact, we still aren't even fully sure what to do with him. I mean, he looks and acts like my brother, yet no matter what we know he isn't. The only reason we even allow him a commission is because he has yet to show his old self."

Ratula paced a bit, looking out the window toward his ship.

"That transporter of yours is a dangerous technology. If you haven't explained how it worked, I would have sworn you have killed me too..."

-AO-

Several decks away, Eri groaned and turned on the cold surface she was lying on.

"So you are finally awake?" called a familiar voice.

Eri sat up and rubbed her eyes in order to clear them. Her back mildly stung but as her vision came into focus, she noticed she was in a small room on a bed jutting off the wall. A very faint hum came from an archway dividing the room in two sections. Not attentive for a moment as she stretched her aching muscles, her arm passed across the threshold. A mild shock and a crackle of the once invisible force field brought her to full attention.

"I wouldn't do that next time. You are lucky it is not on the harsher settings."

The redhead turned to see the other occupant of the room. Aka'ula was lying on a bed opposite to her, examining the back of his hand with an unreadable expression.

"Where are we?"

Red turned his head to look at her.

"The ship's brig. You are here because of your little outburst earlier."

The young Jedi flushed a bit from the memory. Now that she thought back, she should have restrained herself a bit more than to draw her lightsaber.

"Okay, but why are you in here with me then? Last time I checked, guards are usually on the other side of the wall." She said, waving her arm indicating the force field.

The Starfleet officer returned to looking at his hands again. Eri noticing upon closer inspection that he wasn't wearing a badge anymore (neither was she but Red's was more apparent). A minute or so passed before he responded.

"Safety precaution. You scared Doran and brought up very traumatic memories for him. I had to lock myself up since there is potential for my own relapse. That is something we all would rather avoid."

The redhead turned to her own thoughts. She wanted to ask what kind of relapse would warrant self-incarceration, but felt it was something even she shouldn't know yet.

The two sat in silence for a few more minutes, Red now stoically staring at the ceiling as Eri sat meditating. A slight hiss alerted them to someone entering through the door on the other side of the brig. Ambrosio took in the sight of the quiet couple before being addressed by Red.

"How is Doran?"

Ambrosio paused a moment.

"He is calmly sleeping in sickbay. His hair is a bit grayer and he now looks to be in his thirties."

He locked eyes with Eri for a few seconds before speaking again.

"We received another emergency communique from command. We lost a ship near the wormhole."

Both Eri and Aka'ula sat up to look at him properly. Ambrosio continued once he got their full attention.

"A log buoy was found adrift an hour ago, it belonged to the _Rhode Island._ According to the files, in their pursuit to capture a fugitive programmer, they lost control to his hacking system and engaged in battle with two alien vessels. When the investigators arrived on the scene they found only one surviving alien ship, which fired several warning shots before disappearing back to the other galaxy. Our vessels transmitted a visual to us, I would like to see if Ms Eri is familiar with the aliens."

The force field collapsed to permit him entry and a PADD was handed over to the Jedi. She looked over the picture on the screen.

"That is a Mon Calamari cruiser, you are lucky they just were warning sh…no. That can't be!"

Eri started breathing heavily, noticing a small ship that was apparently being towed by the cruiser.

"Please tell me! Did anyone find out what the freighter's name was?"

Ambrosio held up his hands in a slightly defensive posture.

"We were not able to get information directly, but we found some writing on the debris we collected. Maybe the something is there." He said, swiping through several files on the PADD before showing one with a burnt metal plate.

Eri looked at the sent image. The charring made it difficult to make out, yet based on what she could, it was mostly just warning labels on a nav-computer. However, a small little bit of graffiti could be seen written right underneath. As she read it, she paled considerably.

_Damn it Han! Fix this already! ~Leia_

-AO-

Ackbar shivered from the strange chill in the room as he watched Leia attend to Luke. The news he just received was horrendous. He hadn't understood how such a tragedy could happen. He spent the last hour or so just staring blankly at the wall of his office, but knew that he had to tell them. Leia, standing up to fetch some water, noticed the admiral in the doorway.

"Admiral? What are you doing here? Did you receive a report from Han? How is the Federation? Does Han say we trust them?"

The man flinched, the motion caught by Leia. She began to panic.

"No…please tell me he wasn't captured or…or…"

Leia read the report that Ackbar handed to her, collapsing in tears as she read. There were no survivors. Han and Chewbacca were killed from the decompression, C3PO was damaged beyond repair from shrapnel and Artoo only lasted long enough to give them a recording.

"Sad isn't it?" A voice spoke out.

Both looked up to see a man standing in the entry, watching them with thinly-veiled amusement as Leia stood up and Ackbar pointed readied his blaster. The man was wearing a dark uniform, yet Leia and Ackbar could recognize imperial admiralty clothing when they see it.

"Who are you and what are you doing in here?" Ackbar demanded, Leia instead putting herself between the man and her brother.

The unknown man just chuckled and pulled out a thin wooden stick. He pointed it at the two and muttered something in a strange language. Ackbar and Leia dropped to the floor in shock as ropes suddenly bound them tight and cloth gagging them quiet. The imperial officer stepped over to them, leaning down to address their faces.

"The name is Sunil Kalaghata. _Admiral_ of the new Imperial Regiment. Heard about the unfortunate mishap of Mr Solo, but it makes it much easier for me…"

Kalaghata trotted over to where Luke was lying, the man starting to thrash as he pulled closer. Leia and Ackbar suddenly felt the room grow immensely from where they were laying, an immense feeling of fear and dread filling their entire being. The lights flickered and died. Leia suddenly saw a tall hooded figure glided into view, hovering over the bed with Kalaghata. From what she could tell, Ackbar took no notice of the newcomer. However, Luke shot up and his eyes popped open as he focused on the beings nearby, an abrupt change from his earlier comatose state.

"You! How dare you!" He accused, trying to pull himself out of bed but failing in his weakened state. "You're behind all of it! The Force attempted to warn us! You are the…."

"I am sorry…" Kalaghata interrupted, slashing through the air and Luke dropped back down bound and gagged. "…no time to listen to things I already know. Now, I need one last thing…"

The imperial officer held Luke's head still, one set of sapphire eyes locking onto the other. Luke suddenly felt his entire life flash before his eyes, barely enough time to throw up mental blocks before he felt a tap on his head. His vision clearing a bit, he saw silvery strands draped across the tip of Kalaghata's stick before they were deposited into a small vial. Pleased with his accomplishment, Kalaghata turned to the cloaked being next to him.

"I am done with him. Do as you please."

Suddenly the creature dropped down, Luke struggling valiantly as he was covered by the billowing cloak. The two bound people a little away watched helplessly as the twisting and contorting body abruptly relaxed. The figure then shot up and glided away, Luke lying motionless in its wake.

Kalaghata, unfazed by what happened, returned to Leia and Ackbar. Leia was sobbing, it felt as if a black hole had formed in the room and was sitting exactly where her brother's body lay. Ackbar on the other hand was shouting several swearwords in his native language, muffled by the cloth gag.

"You two are lucky. Your brother there unfortunately was too far connected to the Force to be able to be as reliable as you. Now, what happened here mustn't be leaked, so let me show you a bit of mercy."

Both stiffened as Kalaghata pointed the strange weapon at them, the man smiling without any warmth.

"Don't worry, I am just getting rid of today's memories for you. We can get to business right after…_obliviate._"

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><p>Author's Notes: Okay, I changed my plan of attack a bit for some plot addition. Just a quick reminder, I still am keeping this specific story in the Trek and Wars crossover section because that is where it is set and most references occur. Otherwise please REVIEW, it is easier on me to understand some of your thoughts as this story goes on and gets much more complicated.<p> 


	25. Chapter 24

I'M STILL ALIVE...I think. ~(6_9)~

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek, Star Wars or any other canon property. With exception to my OCs, all rights belong to their respective owners.

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><p><strong>Chapter 24:<strong>

*Weeks Later*

"This is Diane Simmons reporting from the location of the Intergalactic Wormhole. For those who are still unaware, just over three weeks ago Starfleet command had discovered the existence of a wormhole that connects two different galaxies. Due to the infamous _Rhode Island_ incident three weeks ago involving a Federation fugitive and the unfortunate destruction of an extragalactic ship, the people on the other side of the wormhole had since refused any attempt at communication diplomatic or otherwise. So far, any vessel that had attempted to cross the threshold was severely damaged if not destroyed by a minefield apparently placed at the other end…"

Ratula looked up at the news broadcast and shook his head, flipping his coin several times before pocketing it. After the battle several weeks ago, he returned back to the other side in one of the few remaining hyper drive capable shuttles. No one welcomed him when he arrived, somehow believing him and Eri as galactic traitors and treating him with hostility. His non-imperial contacts were more precautious now, discreetly transmitting him info when they could though what they sent he already knew or was deemed irrelevant.

To his right, Haumea was pouring over the schematics and star charts he provided to them from his own computer library, conversing with several excited Starfleet engineers and cartographers. His contacts had noted that the growing sentiment was to declare war soon and he beyond a doubt knew that Kalaghata was behind everything. The only option was to help the Federation prepare for the worst.

"The engineers in the other galaxy are amazing!" One engineer claimed as she looked over the blueprints on an astromech droid. "Sure they are backwards in many ways, but in others they are impressively advanced. Just look at the AI unit in this thing! It may not be as complex as a Soong android but they are still leaps ahead of conventional robotics!"

"Too bad they don't really have a conventional name for their galaxy. Would make it much easier to distinguish between us."

Ratula shook his head but inwardly agreed. After spending weeks under Federation care, he now felt that simply calling the galaxy as _The Galaxy_ seemed pretty egotistical and self-centered. Did they really think that they would have been the only galaxy supporting life? He was starting to see why entities like the Yuuzhan Vong would be so surprising and devastating…

'…Yuuzhan Vong?' Ratula thought, suddenly noticing the strange direction his mind took him. He couldn't recall ever reading or hearing about anything remotely called that and was now unsure as to what the thought even meant. Before he could mull over his thoughts, a tap on the shoulder caught his attention.

"They are about to test the _Arcana_'s slipstream drive. Since you did help us with the computer upgrades, would you like to come and observe?" Aka'ula asked.

Ratula nodded, his previous thoughts immediately forgotten.

-AO-

"We are about to test a potentially dangerous piece of equipment and I find you drinking _again_?! Do I really need to babysit you every other hour?!"

"He probably needs a permanent nanny. You might as well take the job since you already act like one."

Eri responded to the quip by slapping Horace in the face before returning to the passed out first officer, who was drooling over the table with an empty bottle in his hand. After promising to behave and with the situation brewing in the other galaxy, she had stayed with the Kagami family in the spare guest room for the past few weeks, learning the hard way that Doran was not the collected individual that he was when on duty.

"Well you do constantly remind him about his drinking habits." Horace commented. "You also tend to clean up the messes he makes and he does now refer to you as his sister now."

Eri scowled at the man, not needing the reminder of the commander's new habit of calling her 'Eri nee-chan' whenever they had free time. Of course Horace took it in stride considering that Doran's attention was now not solely on him anymore.

"Doctor, just hypo him so we can get to work!"

The young woman pointed at his utility pack, showing off her studies of Starfleet's databanks. The sheer amount of available data was amazing to her and from what she could tell apparently required several dedicated planets for storage. Even without the Galactic data-compression standards she was used to, Eri had a feeling that not even the vast Jedi Archives could contain the same amount of data. Did these people even need to record every single thing that comes across their curiosity?! Unfortunately written Federation Standard still eluded her despite her new knowledge.

For her troubles, Admiral Janeway personally gave her the honorary title as a Starfleet specialist complete with a uniform and combadge.

The doctor rolled his eyes but instead of grabbing a hypospray, he shoved Doran off the chair. The teen flopped unceremoniously to the floor, flailing a bit before picking himself up.

"Huh? What's…." He started before noticing the annoyed duo before him.

"Is it time already?" Doran asked, suddenly sober as if the blond was never drinking in the first place.

"Yes! Now we need to get to the bridge. Doctor, why don't you head back to sickbay?"

Eri dragged Doran toward the door.

"See ya later Hora-sama!"

The doctor shuddered, the Jedi girl smirking slightly as they left.

-AO-

"Commander, open a ship-wide broadcast."

"Yes captain."

Red nodded before addressing his crew.

"Attention all hands. In a few minutes we will begin the first field test of the Quantum Slipstream drive. Thanks to the generous contribution by Captain Ratula of the other galaxy, we have increased our computational power well beyond what we expected. We are now expected to be able to maintain a stable slipstream for at least 30 minutes. However, today we shall confirm that. I expect every single member of this crew to preform to their utmost best. Kagami out."

Red turned to Janeway, who sat in the second officer's chair sipping a mug of coffee.

"Admiral, you still wish to observe here and not on the _Thunder Child_? If so, sit in the captain's chair. I don't mind at all."

Janeway shook her head.

"It would be nostalgic to sit in the chair, but this ship is yours captain. You have more right than I do to sit there. Now, shall we begin?"

Aka'ula turned to Doran, who now stood at the science station.

"Signal the dock master that we are ready to depart."

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><p>Author's Notes: Okay, it has been a really long time since the last update to the point even I thought this thing was abandoned. This chapter is kind of dull and jerky in areas but I needed to throw out something for the story. Hopefully the next chapter is better. Please REVIEW. Just one comment? A little one? Anything to help make things better.<p> 


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